FCC Members Doubt Repeal of Must Buy
Commissioners Fear Impact on Local Stations
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 7/30/2007 12:44:00 PM
The cable industry lacks support inside the Federal Communications Commission for repealing a 1992 law that requires cable subscribers to buy local TV signals before they may purchase traditional cable networks like Discovery Channel, Oxygen and Fox News Channel.
Cable-industry lobbyists and executives have quietly sought repeal of the so-called must-buy law, saying that such a step would remove a regulatory disparity with satellite-TV competitors. DirecTV and EchoStar Communications do not need to provide all local TV signals; if they do, they are not burdened by the same must-buy requirement applicable to cable operators.
Responding to questions from members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, four FCC members expressed concern that lifting the must-buy requirement would inflict harm on local TV stations that are not market leaders.
“If, for example, less popular stations -- especially those that rely on must-carry -- could be placed on a tier with low penetration, they may not be able to attract enough viewers to survive economically,” FCC Democrat Michael Copps told the House panel in his July 23 response.
Republican Deborah Taylor Tate urged caution, agreeing with Copps that the impact on local TV stations might be too severe.
“Such legislation could compromise the continued viability of local stations, with the possible loss of their more locally oriented over-the-air service by those residents in their service area that choose to not (or economically cannot) subscribe to the higher tier of a pay service,” Tate said.
Democrat Jonathan Adelstein noted, “Providing consumers with the option to buy or bypass the purchase of local broadcast channels would be consistent with an a la carte regime.” He added that it was “unclear” what would happen if cable subscribers could opt of buying local TV signals, “but it would likely be disruptive.”
FCC Republican Robert McDowell called repeal of must buy “an interesting idea,” but, like his colleagues, he said he would be “concerned about those consumers losing the benefit of the local news and information provided by their local broadcast stations.”
FCC chairman Kevin Martin did not submit responses last week. Jodi Seth, spokeswoman for Energy and Commerce chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), said Martin’s might arrive by the end of the week.
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