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Posts Tagged ‘TV’
November 10th, 2022 at 12:16 pm
Government Should Not Dictate Which Channels Appear in Your Cable Package
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“Today’s thriving video content market offers consumers an endless array of options according to their own needs and tastes. So why do some in Congress seek to dictate which channels appear in your cable package?”

That is the question posed and addressed in a recent op-ed authored by CFIF’s Timothy Lee and published by The Daily Caller.

“Whether it’s discriminatory tax incentives for favored programming, preferential treatment for rural-themed channels, or partisan attempts to de-platform conservative news stations, lawmakers from both parties seem under the illusion that our almost unfathomably competitive video marketplace needs the meddling hand of Congress to fix what isn’t broken,” writes Lee.

As a current example, Lee notes that “some lawmakers openly promote RFD-TV – a pay-TV channel owned by Rural Media Group that mixes agribusiness news content with rural-themed entertainment programming. In previous years, Rural Media Group pushed legislation that would effectively require pay-TV companies to carry RFD on their basic tiers – and to pay for the privilege, ultimately increasing costs for consumers. Although those efforts failed, the company is now back pushing a resolution to artificially impose more rural programming.”

That resolution should be rejected.

Lee goes on to offer a simple solution: “[L]et the free market decide, and get the government out of the discussion altogether.”

Read the entire op-ed here.

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October 22nd, 2019 at 9:00 pm
STELA Reauthorization Offers a Perfect Opportunity for Pro-Market Reform
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In just over two months at the end of this calendar year, the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) is once again set to expire, pending reauthorization.

Although the law probably remains unfamiliar to most Americans, it governs the way in which people who live beyond the reach of broadcast signals can retain access to local television programming.  In addition to ensuring continued local programming access, however, the reauthorization process underway in Congress offers an opportunity to finally institute badly-needed free market reforms to the law as it currently exists.

Specifically, this week’s Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on reauthorizing the law provides a critical opportunity for pro-market reform by modernizing anachronistic regulations like retransmission consent agreements and must-carry provisions of the 1992 Cable Act.

For those unfamiliar with STELA, here’s a brief primer and an explanation of why the current reauthorization process is so critical.

When the Cable Act became law in 1992, the overriding fear among voters and legislators was that cable operators might leverage monopoly power to block local broadcast stations in their respective areas.  Consequently, the law artificially tipped the regulatory scales in favor of broadcasters by granting them the right to guaranteed carriage or the right to compel cable operators to pay stations for consent to retransmit their broadcasts to local subscribers.  Then, in 2010 when STELA was enacted, it unfortunately maintained many of those outdated 1992 Cable Act rules.

Now, almost three decades later, the American television consumer marketplace is much more competitive and no longer resembles its 1992 state of affairs.

Among other changes over the past three decades, consumers now possess innumerable options in channel selection and the means to access them, from cable to fiber optics to online services to multiple satellite and cable providers.

Despite that evolution, however, the government-imposed advantage for broadcasters remains.  Multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs) like cable, satellite and fiber providers are prohibited under current regulations from disconnecting service during sweeps week, but broadcasters remain free to do the exact same thing during such events as a World Series or Super Bowl in which the local team is playing.

Accordingly, broadcasters maintain their government-created negotiating advantage through the retransmission consent rules, and are guaranteed a place on cable companies’ basic tier.  That tipping of scales has resulted in consumers suffering service disruptions and cost increases.  In fact, we’ve witnessed record blackouts already this year.

But as referenced above, the current STELA reauthorization process provides the perfect opportunity for Congress to do something about it, and allow greater negotiating balance and a more even playing field.   At a minimum, Congress can finally end the unfair prohibition against MVPDs disconnecting service during sweeps week if necessitated by a negotiating impasse with intransigent broadcasters, as well as broadcasters’ government-granted right to placement on cable companies’ basic tier, which it appears ready to do.

The bottom line is that federal government shouldn’t be playing favorites or tipping the scales in an ever-evolving consumer television marketplace like ours, and STELA reauthorization provides the perfect opportunity to correct those existing defects.

 

March 16th, 2018 at 12:32 pm
Congress Must Prevent Crony Capitalism and Spending Waste in FCC Reauthorization
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As Congress considers reauthorization of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), it must exercise extreme diligence to prevent it from becoming a vehicle for crony capitalism and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Currently, Congressional FCC reauthorization includes provisions that would reimburse broadcasters in spectrum incentive auctions, which could in turn be exploited to subsidize the upcoming ATSC 3.0 transition, as many had predicted.  By way of background, ATSC 3.0 refers to the upcoming transition to yet another new broadcasting standard, which will force over-the-air viewers to purchase new television sets or converter equipment at their own expense.  If that rings a bell, it’s for good reason.  That’s what occurred in recent years with the last conversion.

Here’s the problem.  Current provisions could constitute a blank check at taxpayer expense to broadcasters so that they could fund new equipment for the transition from the U.S. Treasury, as the legislation creates a new Treasury Fund in an undisclosed amount of money.  Although broadcasters ostensibly must direct the money they receive only toward costs associated with the spectrum auction, the likely scenario remains that the FCC will remain unable to detect and stop waste, fraud and abuse if the funds are used instead to upgrade their equipment in pursuit of ATSC 3.0.

Accordingly, it’s important that Congress not allow this legislation to become a wasteful open account for broadcasters to exploit for their own benefit at taxpayer expense.  At a minimum, they must establish greater safeguards to ensure that waste, fraud and abuse are not allowed, and that American consumers are not deprived of access to over-the-air TV access as a consequence of necessary installation of ATSC 3.0 transition equipment funded by taxpayers, whether in whole or in part.

To be clear, we welcome any and all technological and telecommunications advancement in this field, but we must also remain vigilant against the looming likelihood of crony capitalism and waste of taxpayer dollars in an era of growing deficits and debt.  Congress must therefore ensure that protections against those possibilities are incorporated into upcoming FCC reauthorization.

November 14th, 2014 at 3:39 pm
WhereToWatch.com – New Search Tool Locates Films and Shows on Legal Sites
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We’ve written extensively on the destructive nature of illegal online piracy, as well as various market and legal avenues to combat it.

In positive news this week, the Motion Picture Association of America launched WhereToWatch.com, a one-stop-shop for consumers to locate legal sites for their favorite films and television shows.  Visitors to the site can (1) search for films and shows on digital downloading and streaming sites, as well as at stores and kiosks;  (2) quickly and easily find theater times and locations for new movies;  (3) watch trailers and access original behind-the-scenes content;  and (4) create settings to receive alerts when movies and shows they want become available from various providers.

Studies show that almost 95% of popular films and shows are already legally available for viewing, via over 100 legal online services across the U.S. Accordingly, there’s simply no need or excuse for anyone to steal the films or TV shows they enjoy on illegal sites, when legal alternatives are now so readily available.

In that vein, WhereToWatch.com offers a welcome innovation.