Schurz Communications urged the FCC not to change...

Schurz Communications urged the FCC not to change its policies on joint sales agreements (JSAs) and shared services agreements. Cable complaints about joint negotiation of retransmission consent agreements are unjustified, it said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1ht05EI). “The proposal to prohibit only broadcasters from entering into joint sales agreements with another local station would result in asymmetrical regulation,” it said. If the FCC requires such arrangements to be dismantled, “there would be substantial, and perhaps devastating, breakup costs incurred by both parties,” it said. “The station now receiving services would have to create infrastructure and obtain services elsewhere that it needs to operate,” it said. Schurz, Entravision and NAB met this week with staff from the offices of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai, Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, it said. They also met with Media Bureau staff. Meanwhile, Sinclair urged the FCC to evaluate JSAs within the larger context of the statutorily required 2014 quadrennial review, it said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1hsCyDZ). The commission’s failure to analyze recent increases in competition in both the video and advertising sales markets “makes any piecemeal rulemaking arbitrary and capricious,” it said. Sinclair again said it’s concerned about the consequences of attributing JSAs for ownership cap purposes “without permanent grandfathering for existing JSAs and those currently awaiting FCC approval as part of pending assignment and transfer applications, because there is no evidence that selling a station’s advertising spots influences the programming decision of that station,” it said. Complaints from multichannel video programming distributors claiming that broadcasters enjoy undue leverage in retransmission consent negotiations as part of JSAs also have no basis in fact, it said. Broadcasters remain “at a tremendous disadvantage in compensation negotiations,” it said. Although almost 40 percent of TV viewing is of broadcast signals, broadcasters received only 9.5 percent of basic cable fees in 2013, it said. The filing recounts a meeting with staff from the offices of commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai.