ACA Digs In on Retrans, July 1 Set-Top Ban
Trade Group Head Polka: Lawmakers Asked ACA for Advice
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 4/20/2007 12:22:00 PM
Some lawmakers this week were asking members of the American Cable Association for suggestions for a solution to the issue of retransmission consent, the head of the lobbying group said Friday.
The ACA held its 14th Annual Washington Summit earlier this week, which was capped by its members going to the Hill to meet with lawmakers Wednesday. The two issues on the agenda were retransmission consent and the July 1 ban on set-tops with integrated security.
ACA president Matt Polka said that in a number of cases, his members were told by congressmen that retransmission consent -- which allows broadcasters to demand compensation for carriage of their stations -- is a tough issue.
But Polka was heartened that some of these lawmakers asked his members “to give us a solution.” That’s important, according to Polka, because the ACA is trying to get Congress engaged in the retransmission-consent issue. “We’re going to persist,” he said.
The ACA is thinking about its comeback, according to Polka. One recommendation might be that cable be given parity with direct-broadcast satellite providers and be permitted to put TV stations that opt for retransmission consent on tiers that customers will have to pay for if they want them, according to Polka.
“That’s one idea, but there are many,” he added.
About 225 ACA members had more than 180 scheduled appointments, and more than 200 actual meetings, on the Hill, Polka said.
The ACA also sent a contingent to the FCC Wednesday. That ACA group met with the agency’s Media Bureau, with commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Deborah Tate and with the staff of commissioner Robert McDowell. Set-top waivers were one topic of discussion.
The ACA also asked congressmen to write to Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin about the looming integrated set-top ban. The ACA is seeking waivers of the ban, or for the FCC to be lenient and allow downloadable security as an option, rather than CableCARD boxes, Polka said.
“There was a high level of interest in the set-top issue once it was explained to the Hill,” he added. “The Hill did not have a real sense of what was taking place and did not have a real appreciation of how the set-top-box-integration ban was going to affect consumers, from a cost standpoint, with the increase in the equipment.”
The National Association of Broadcasters Tuesday ran an ad charging that the ACA was coming to Washington “urging Congress to disrupt the retransmission-consent-negotiation process.”
Polka claimed that the ad didn’t get much traction on the Hill. “There was a sense of our members in their meetings that NAB’s stunt this week was ineffective and sophomoric … making NAB look foolish to pull such as silly stunt,” he added.
