Newsmax CEO: Put Crosshairs on Unconditional MFN Terms

That so many public affairs programmers have departed since the last time the FCC examined the challenges independent programmers face speaks to the difficulty of getting linear carriage in a market where big programming conglomerates dominate, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy wrote Tuesday in docket 24-115. In addition, the loss also points to the challenge traditional multichannel video programming distributors face in competing with unregulated virtual MVPDs, he wrote. Gone are programmers such as One America News, TheBlaze and Black News Channel, Ruddy noted. Further regulating MVPDs while giving "a regulatory free pass" to vMVPDs will only increase the imbalance of that competition, meaning traditional MVPDs have even fewer resources to put toward indie programmers, Ruddy wrote. Pointing to the FCC's proposed ban on most-favored-nation contract terms, he argued for a focus on unconditional MFNs. Conditional MFNs entitle an MVPD to certain contractual rights that a programmer has offered another MVPD, as long as the first MVPD also accepts related terms and conditions contained in the agreement with the latter MVPD. Unconditional MFNs aren't obligated to also accept the related terms and conditions.