Public Interest Spectrum

Three Commissioners Support Studying Retransmission Consent

April 15, 2010 by Josh Wein|Top News

LAS VEGAS -- Three FCC commissioners told NAB they support studying retransmission consent in the wake of a petition from pay-TV operators to modify the commission’s approach to broadcast carriage disputes. But they didn’t all take a position on how the agency should move forward. “I think it’s important to study the issue,” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said. But it’s also important to get a sense of the true scope of the problem, she said: “It’s always the 1 percent or 5 percent of the issue that draws the policy and decisions and that doesn’t always work in our best interest."

Commissioner Michael Copps was most supportive of changing the retransmission consent rules in some way. “I'm hoping we can find a way to make this a smoother process that doesn’t result in those ‘High Noon’ scenarios at the end of the year,” he said. Historically the FCC’s role in disputes has been limited to making sure good-faith negotiations occur between parties, he said. The FCC will have to look at “the extent those good-faith negotiations can be encouraged and we can pull back from these standoffs,” he said. Commissioner Meredith Baker said it’s the right time to look at the issue. “My sense is the marketplace is working,” she said. “But we have to look out for consumers."

Broadcasters probably wouldn’t have found themselves defending their spectrum had they worked harder to meet their public interest obligations, Copps said. “Were those channels used for that, I don’t think anyone would have gotten within 500 miles of a proposal like the one that was made,” he said. He said he was skeptical about Congress’s will to compensate stations for giving up their spectrum. “If Congress is looking to raise money [through an auction], it’s probably not to give it to broadcasters or anyone else,” he said.

If spectrum is reallocated from TV to wireless broadband, “we need to have a national discussion” about retaining the public interest obligations that currently come along with those spectrum rights, he said. Those are questions the FCC has begun to contemplate in the kids media proceeding, Baker said.

Letting broadcasters lease part of their spectrum for other uses could be a good solution, Baker said. “I'm a big fan of secondary markets,” but they haven’t always worked well, she said. Copps resisted the idea. “To my mind, that spectrum is dedicated,” he said. “I don’t want to see all of a sudden where 30, 40, 50 percent of that spectrum is being leased out to some other purpose.”

NAB Notebook …

NAB President Gordon Smith visited the CBS affiliates' board meeting at the NAB convention Tuesday in what was reported as the association’s continuing effort to seek the return of the CBS TV Network to NAB membership. He generally discussed the same issues -- spectrum, performance rights and retransmission consent -- highlighted in his keynote speech the day before. The affiliates’ main concern was their “action plan” -- labeled by Affiliates’ Chairman Tim Busch -- for opposing the pending acquisition of NBC-Universal by Comcast. The board said the merger would unfairly empower NBC in the over-the-air TV world and wants regulatory conditions if FCC approves the merger.

More than 88,000 registered to attend NAB’s convention this year, that’s up from a final attendance of 82,650 a year ago, NAB said. It includes 23,900 international attendees and 1,153 news media.

"I'm glad he came,” NAB President Gordon Smith said in reaction to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s convention speech seeking support for the FCC’s recently announced broadband plan, which seeks TV spectrum on a voluntary basis. Most of the comments we got from broadcasters ranged from very negative to a “wait and see” attitude. Some examples: “He laid out the FCC’s position very clearly for a skeptical audience, but I doubt he won anybody over to the government’s position.” “He’s got a job to do. He came and gave his message and we're going to talk about it.” Said TV broadcaster Patsy Smullin: “We've been in the business since l942 and of all our past challenges, this [spectrum takeover] is the biggest.” Maximum Service TV President David Donovan said: “The chairman was forthright and direct” and MSTV will work with the FCC to “document the problems associated with taking 120 MHz of spectrum” from the TV band.