The skirmishes that have left cable viewers in different parts of the country without channels like Fox Sports, Food Network and G4 over the last few months may soon be a thing of the past, if cable companies manage to convince lawmakers to set new rules that would, they argue, protect customers from disappearing content in the future.
This year has seen a series of conflicts between content generators like Fox, Disney and Scripps (parent company of the Food Network and HGTV) and cable providers like Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and DirecTV over the amount of money cable providers pay broadcasters to transmit their programming. As ad revenue falls and, for many of the channels at the center of these conflicts, audiences rise, the broadcasters ask for new deals for more money and, when the cable providers don’t sign on, the broadcasters pull the channel(s) until the situation has been sorted out (Currently, DirecTV subscribers are having to struggle through a G4-less existence for this very reason). But now, a group of providers have asked the FCC to step in to create new laws to ensure that things won’t get that far again.
In a hearing yesterday, Cablevision’s COO Thomas Rutledge told lawmakers that contract negotiations “”are wreaking havoc on consumers, and we ought to find a way to resolve them without holding consumers hostage,” with TWC’s chairman Glenn Britt adding that “The FCC has repeatedly signaled – incorrectly, we believe – that its hands are tied when it comes to protecting the public from the consequences of retransmission consent fights.” (More on Techland: FCC Wants Cell Carriers to Warn People Before Overages Occur)
For its part, the FCC sounds as if it’s beginning to come around to the cable providers’ argument; Senator John Kerry – who heads the senate subcommittee on communications, technology and the internet – is already drafting legislation that will prevent broadcasters pulling signals in the middle of contract negotiations. He explained, “Our predilection is not to get involved, not to try to somehow manage the marketplace in ways that are inappropriate, but when the consumers keep getting crunched in the middle, and keep coming back to us and saying ‘we feel powerless, and we’re tired of it,’ that’s when we come to the table. Our constituents should not be the pawns in these corporate negotiations.”
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