Washington Heats Up During Retransmission Week

[Commentary] It was Retransmission Week in Washington, which was very much like Shark Week on Discovery, except that sharks swimming through bloody chum in an eating frenzy are generally more likable than lobbyists circling a congressional hearing room. Two committees — the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet and the House Communications Subcommittee — held hearings that gave pay-TV operators a platform to air their grievances and renew their call for retransmission reform. The National Association of Broadcasters and the American Television Alliance (ATVA), the consortium of pay-TV operators that is leading the charge on retransmission reform, battled it out with old-fashioned display ads in congressional publications and then in back-to-back phoners with the media. And TVNewsCheck even got in on the action, posting a column in which ATVA chief spokesman Brian Frederick challenged NAB's assertion that Time Warner Cable, Dish and DirecTV were purposefully causing retransmission blackout to get the attention of Congress. My big takeaway from the week is that ATVA is making progress, at least in convincing lawmakers that a problem exists. Judging by their comments, I would say there is growing concern about the blackouts that periodically deprive constituents of their favorite broadcast TV shows. “[O]ur top priority will be to protect the interests of consumers,” said Howard Coble (R-NC), chairman of the House judiciary panel. “When there’s a dispute and it results in a blackout, consumers are left with no recourse."