Indie Broadcasters Need Must-Carry Rights With Virtual MVPDs: Station Owner

Numerous full-power TV stations in the San Francisco area are excluded from carriage on newer virtual MVPDs, and without must-carry rights they're at a huge disadvantage as viewers migrate from traditional MVPDs, One Ministries President Keith Leitch said Friday in docket 14-261, recapping a meeting he and Total Living Network CEO Debra Fraser had with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. As long as virtual MVPD operators have a vested interest in promoting affiliated content, smaller independent TV stations -- like One Ministries' KQSL Fort Bragg, California -- inevitably "will be left out" of vMVPD carriage, he said.