Congressmen Seek End To NFL Network Carriage Dispute
Bi-Partisan Group Want FCC Chairman Martin To Adopt Resolution Mechanism
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 12/20/2007 7:59:00 AM
While NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has reached out to Time Warner Cable president and CEO Glenn Britt about binding arbitration as a means to resolve the carriage impasse with NFL Network, 21 members of Congress are urging FCC chairman Kevin Martin to consider adopting a resolution mechanism to end these kind of distribution stalemates.
In a joint letter, 14 House members wrote: “This proposal would not pick winners or losers, but instead creates a mechanism to address a market failure that has prevented consumers from having access to popular programming including the NFL Network, about which our constituents have expressed much concern.”
The signatories for the letter: Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.); Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.); Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.); Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.); Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa); Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.); Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.); Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.); Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.); Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.); Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.); Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.); and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.).
In recent weeks, other Congressional members have called upon the FCC to consider adopting this mechanism to resolve the dispute and ensure that consumers all over the country have access to the programming of their choice.
The following have separately called upon the agency to consider adopting an approach that would employ an independent third party to fairly resolve the dispute: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.); Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.); Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.); Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.); Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.); Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.); and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.).
Time Warner Cable, maintaining that the service should be located on a sports tier, has not reached a carriage pact with NFL Network, which is seeking digital-basic positioning and a monthly per subscriber fee of 70 cents.
