Online Extra: The ACA's 2011 Docket

CEO Polka Keeping Eye on More than Retrans, Mega-Merger

By John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 1/3/2011 12:00:00 AM

Retransmission consent and the Comcast-NBC Universal Deal may be top-of-mind for ACA president and CEO Matt Polka, but other issues he expects to come to the fore in 2011 range from discriminatory pricing to spectrum reclamation to compliance with the CALM Act. He expounded on those topics with Multichannel News Washington bureau chief John Eggerton.

MP: It always is, for sure.  But given the FCC rulemaking, yes, that's huge. It has taken years to build the allied groups to seek the petition for rulemaking. We will be doing everything to highlight the reforms, and the unique problems our members face.

MCN: For instance?
MP: Discriminatory pricing, as well as the duopoly problem we face, where one broadcaster will control more than one station based on a local marketing agreement. That is huge for us.
 
MCN: Do you have any dog in the fight in the spectrum-reclamation issue?
MP: That has been largely a broadcast issue, but certainly it could affect some must-carry issues. We are monitoring it, but have not been playing in that area to a great extent. I expect it will be something the FCC will do much more of in the new year and we will wait to see how things develop to determine what specific role we have, if any.

MCN: The broadcasters who do give up spectrum should mean fewer must-carry stations taking up your bandwidth, right?
MP: That would be beneficial, yes, because of the ability to use that for other broadband purposes. But we will wait and see how that happens. Broadcasters feel very strongly about maintaining that spectrum and they are going to do everything they can to hold on to it. So, I am not going to suggest our members are going to use that spectrum until it is actually available to them, which might be some time.

MCN: What about the FCC's AllVid rulemaking, which is likely coming out in the first quarter?
MP: We have started to look at this critically. The idea of it makes a lot of sense. What worries me is the technology mandate that would be imposed on our members to comply by 2012. It is always a concern for our members when the FCC implements new technology that has a very high cost.
I don't think our members fully have a grasp on exactly what would be required, although their initial read is that it could be very costly and disruptive, particularly where the FCC has basically provided significant relief with waviers for HD boxes. I sort of hate to see right on the heels of this, some heavy imposition of some new technology that will basically undo that.

MCN: Do you have any issues with the CALM Act (which requires cable operators and broadcasters to equalize the volume of commercials and surrounding programming)?
MP: We have a couple of issues. The FCC will implement a rulemaking over the course of the next year, with the act taking effect one year later. A couple of the concerns are that, one the technology. My hope is that the engineering community will be able to develop technology. It is not as simple as just putting a filer on the audio coming in because it comes in at different levels.  That is something I hope our members don't have to figure out.  That is something that industry, the audio engineers that deal with this will figure that out.
Two, what is the cost of the technology? One thing I am happy about in the CALM Act is that Congress [directed] the FCC to be open and generous in their waiver process.

MCN: Anything else?
MP: At the FCC, Universal Service reform will be an issue. We support using USF money to underwrite broadband in high-cost areas. We are hopeful that if the FCC does move forward, it will be technology-neutral. And while the Comcast merger may be done, there is always the possibility that we will see more. Who knows who might combine, but it is safe to say that the big companies need to be bigger to be better prepared for the market, so, it is possible we could see other mergers and if so, we are prepared to deal with those, too. It is going to be a busy year.