Weather Channel Supports Mediacom Petition

Pay-TV consolidation is a response to programmer consolidation and the large content bundles they require multichannel video programming distributors to buy, said The Weather Channel in a meeting with FCC Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and other Media Bureau staff last week, according to an ex parte filing in docket 11-131. Independent programmers “have suffered from more limited carriage opportunities and demands for significant price cuts because of the greater role of bundling,” said the Weather Channel representatives, who “expressed support” for a Mediacom petition asking the FCC to restrict programmers’ ability to bundle content. The Weather Channel also attacked some MVPD business practices as hindering independent programmers. “Unreasonable provisions” in affiliation agreements required by MVPDs include prohibitions on alternative distribution methods for content, limitations on the sale of local advertising; and “complex and interconnected most favored nation clauses (“MFNs”) that impede innovation,” the filing said.