NAB Expects More Retrans Clashes 'Manufactured' by Pay TV

Expect to see more clashes between pay TV and broadcasters over retransmission consent, thanks to a pay-TV industry strategy of manufacturing disputes, the NAB said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in FCC docket 10-71. The meeting with FCC staff was to highlight the importance of the regulator's syndicated exclusivity and nonduplication rules, the NAB said. With "some in the pay TV industry" trying to get more government regulation in retrans, the FCC "should not be surprised by an uptick in pay TV-manufactured disputes" as the agency has begun rulemaking for the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization's Section 103, which covers retrans, the broadcasters association said. "Bad actors should not be rewarded with government assistance, especially when those actions come, yet again, at consumers' expenses." Broadcasters, not pay-TV, bears responsibility for blackouts, which are "wreaking havoc for consumers," American Television Alliance spokesman Trent Duffy said. "The suggestion that pay-TV providers are manufacturing this blackout crisis is laughable," Duffy said. "Broadcasters abuse old laws to gouge consumers for what is supposed to be free over the air programming. It’s not fair and it’s not pretty, but sadly, it is legal because Congress hasn’t fixed the laws. It’s time for Congress to end broadcaster special interest giveaways so TV fans get their shows instead of a black screen.”