ACA Requests Remedial Conditions on AT&T/DirecTV Acquisition

The American Cable Association, in its reply comments filed at the FCC Thursday (see 1501080059), urged the commission to adopt remedial conditions to protect small- and medium-sized multichannel video programming distributors from alleged public interest harms associated with the AT&T/DirecTV acquisition. They should include redesigned nondiscriminatory program access rules and a commercial arbitration remedy to protect against unfair prices, terms and conditions, it said. ACA said the acquisition also could enhance the combined company's ability to charge higher prices for regional sports programming. ACA asked for similar protective merger conditions in its comments on the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal. In both deals ACA has proposed increased transparency of programming negotiations and a revamped system for bringing program access complaints. The FCC "must ensure" that procedures for enforcing program access on the deals "are effective for small and medium-sized MVPDs," ACA said.