Top 4 Network Affiliate Groups Push FCC to Classify OVDs as MVPDs
Streaming services should be defined as MVPDs, and TV broadcasters should be able to negotiate directly with them instead of relying on networks to do so, representatives for the affiliates group of each of the top four networks said in…
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videoconference meetings with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer, and Commissioner Brendan Carr Monday, according to ex parte filings in docket 14-261. Marketplace shifts over the past seven years have threatened advertising and retransmission consent, which the filing called TV broadcasting’s “key revenue streams.” Because the FCC doesn’t consider internet-based video services such as YouTube MVPDs and thus bound by transmission consent rules, “the Big Four networks control negotiations with virtual MVPDs. The Affiliated stations are at the mercy of agreements that they have no say in negotiating,” the filing said. The affiliate groups also targeted network-owned direct-to-consumer platforms such as Peacock, which “feature very desirable, unique content, and also frequently carry the same Network programming that, historically, had appeared exclusively on broadcast stations.” Local affiliates’ “loss of valuable exclusivity hinders their ability to negotiate fair compensation for retransmission of their signals,” the filing said. The affiliate groups said tech platforms should have to compensate local stations for news content, which they’re advocating on Capitol Hill. “Shifts in the video programming ecosystem have challenged local broadcasters in ways that could not have been anticipated in 2014,” when the FCC opened the docket on classifying online video distributors as MVPDs, the filing said.