Rehr, McSlarrow Make Noise Over Quiet Period

National Association of Broadcasters President David Rehr and National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow played dueling banjos at the Association for Maximum Service Television's (MSTV) annual TV conference. The topic this time is those retransmission agreements that allow cable subscribers to see local broadcast TV stations. Apparently the Federal Communications Commission is working on a plan to seek public comment on the cable industry's so-called quiet period that would ban TV stations from pulling their signals from cable systems during the period before and after the Feb 17, 2009, digital TV transition. The NAB has proposed a four-week quiet period surrounding the DTV transition date of Feb. 17, 2009. Cable operators instead asked the FCC for a longer period, starting at least at the beginning of January and extending through some limited period beyond the transition date. After which, McSlarrow said, everyone could resume fighting. Rehr Monday said cable operators were trying to use the DTV transition to increase their negotiating leverage, and it was absurd to suggest that there were going to be major retrans fights that would require the FCC to step in, if it had the authority, which, Rehr added, it didn't. McSlarrow said a slightly longer quiet period would hardly tip the balance of power in retrans negotiations, and that the issue was, indeed, the DTV transition. He added that there was certainly a broader conversation about reforming retransmission consent he would be happy to have. In a separate panel sessions, aides to all of the FCC commissioners said their bosses all hoped that the broadcast and cable industries could work it out among themselves.