Broadcasters said the FCC shouldn’t require that multichannel video...

Broadcasters said the FCC shouldn’t require that multichannel video programming distributors file their retransmission consent agreements in the agency’s review of the AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable purchase applications. Those materials should be reviewed in consultation with the Justice Department, said Cordillera Communications, Granite Broadcasting Corp. and others in an ex parte filing posted Friday in dockets 14-57 and 14-90 (http://bit.ly/1rqn61r). The FCC protective orders appear to protect against disclosure of highly confidential information only to attorneys involved in competitive decision making with respect to the MVPDs submitting the information, “not with those that are involved in competitive decision making to other parties to those MVPDs’ agreements,” they said. Some broadcasters recently asked the FCC to take similar action on Comcast/TWC (CD Sept 23 p7).