Top-4 Rule Change Could Lead to Joint Retrans Negotiation, NCTA Says, Also Voicing 3.0 Patent Fears

The draft media ownership reconsideration order’s “hybrid” approach to allowing combinations of two top-four network stations in the same market (see 1710260049) could lead to joint retransmission consent negotiation on behalf of the two stations, NCTA said in a meeting Thursday with aides to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, recounted a filing in docket 14-50. The FCC “has found such joint negotiations to be anticompetitive and harmful to consumers,” NCTA said. Harms of joint negotiation are well supported in the record, and the FCC has to justify changing that finding to change the duopoly rule, NCTA said. If the agency moves ahead with the top-four rule change, it should bar such joint negotiations, or consider the impact on retrans negotiations as one of the criteria for determining whether such a combination will be allowed, the group said. The association argued there shouldn’t be an “arbitrary expiration date” on ATSC 3.0 simulcasting requirements, and expressed concern about the 3.0-related patents held by Sinclair: “The FCC cannot create a government-mandated monopoly for the intellectual property rights to build next-generation broadcast television products and then allow the patent rights holders to collect supra-competitive rents.” ATSC 3.0 could allow improved distance learning “on a customized local level,” blogged NAB Vice President-Spectrum Policy Alison Neplokh Tuesday. “Children could get lessons and materials customized to their curriculum at home without needing a broadband connection,” she said. “Low-income families in particular stand to benefit.”