Broadcasters that stop retransmission by pay-TV providers to...

Broadcasters that stop retransmission by pay-TV providers to get “negotiating leverage” should not be allowed to prevent pay-TV providers from importing distant signals of the same network affiliation, said Mediacom in an ex parte filing posted in FCC docket 10-71 Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1nxfXqX). An NAB study showing broadcasters have better ratings under exclusivity rules is comparable to a report in satirical publication The Onion proclaiming that stab wounds mean shorter lives, Mediacom said. “Who, after all, would spend good money commissioning a study that even Captain Obvious might be embarrassed to make?” Cable providers could commission a similar study showing cable had more video customers before DBS service, Mediacom said. A request that the FCC revoke DirecTV and Dish Network’s licenses based on such a report would be greeted with “derision,” Mediacom said. Network non-duplication rules are used during retrans blackouts to “inflict a stab wound” on pay-TV providers, Mediacom said. “It is incumbent on the Commission to take the knife away."NAB appreciates “that Mediacom is attempting -- however badly -- to inject humor into a business model under tremendous pressure from cord-cutting, sorry customer service, and abusive annual customer rate hikes twice the rate of inflation for 20 years,” responded an association spokesman.