FilmOn's David Pitches MPVD Redefinition At FCC

Alki David, founder of linear, Internet-based TV distributor FilmOn, was in Washington Thursday and tells B&C he met with representatives of all the FCC commissioners and a couple of commissioners themselves. He was there to encourage the FCC to approve a Media Bureau Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that defines linear over-the-top providers as MVPD's.

David says he has already reached out to broadcasters about carriage and says he is confident many will take him up on it.

The MVPD definition item has been circulated to the commissioners, but was not put on the agenda for the November public meeting. David said he thought it could still be added to that meeting, but said that in any event he was confident the commissioners would approve it. "It's gonna happen," he said. He certainly hopes so.

Like Aereo, FilmOn was the target of broadcaster lawsuits and court injunctions over efforts to distribute TV station signals without paying a copyright fee.

Read more at B&C here.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.