Comments on: Mediacom vs. Sinclair: Consumers Stuck In The Middle As Companies Fight For Your Money http://stopthecap.com/2009/12/18/mediacom-vs-sinclair-consumers-stuck-in-the-middle-as-companies-fight-for-your-money/ Promoting Better Broadband, Fighting Data Caps, Usage-Based Billing, & Other Internet Overcharging Schemes Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:21:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Stop the Cap! » Must Fee TV: Broadcaster Consent Fees Will Turn ‘Free TV’ Into ‘Fee TV’ For Cable Subscribers http://stopthecap.com/2009/12/18/mediacom-vs-sinclair-consumers-stuck-in-the-middle-as-companies-fight-for-your-money/comment-page-1/#comment-8273 Stop the Cap! » Must Fee TV: Broadcaster Consent Fees Will Turn ‘Free TV’ Into ‘Fee TV’ For Cable Subscribers Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:48:27 +0000 http://stopthecap.com/?p=6579#comment-8273 [...] owns television stations serving nearly 22% of the United States (mostly Fox affiliates), and has contentious negotiations for retransmission consent agreements with Mediacom, a cable operator serving mostly smaller cities [...] [...] owns television stations serving nearly 22% of the United States (mostly Fox affiliates), and has contentious negotiations for retransmission consent agreements with Mediacom, a cable operator serving mostly smaller cities [...]

]]> By: Dave Hancock http://stopthecap.com/2009/12/18/mediacom-vs-sinclair-consumers-stuck-in-the-middle-as-companies-fight-for-your-money/comment-page-1/#comment-8066 Dave Hancock Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:25:03 +0000 http://stopthecap.com/?p=6579#comment-8066 It isn't going to be solved by "a la carte". Consideration of "a la carte" in the past has been limited to cable channels such as TNT and ESPN (why should I pay for ESPN when I don't watch sports or why should a sports fan pay for The Food Network when they don't watch that). The 1992 Cable Act (which is the root cause of these problems) sets up local channels as a special category - everyone should have them at the most basic tier. BUT, that act gave stations the right to deny a cable system permission to carry that channel (and also denied cable the right to import signals from out of town where the local station has denied carriage). If a cable system decided not to carry local stations, the qualifying local station can demand that the cable system carry them. There has been some (but so far minor) attempts to re-write that act to reduce the power of the local stations (or affiliated networks) to extract these funds from cable. The Time Warner "Roll Over or Get Tough" campaign may well fan the flames of changing the cable act (but I wouldn't bet that will happen with all of the "influence peddling" that is going on. It isn’t going to be solved by “a la carte”. Consideration of “a la carte” in the past has been limited to cable channels such as TNT and ESPN (why should I pay for ESPN when I don’t watch sports or why should a sports fan pay for The Food Network when they don’t watch that).

The 1992 Cable Act (which is the root cause of these problems) sets up local channels as a special category – everyone should have them at the most basic tier. BUT, that act gave stations the right to deny a cable system permission to carry that channel (and also denied cable the right to import signals from out of town where the local station has denied carriage). If a cable system decided not to carry local stations, the qualifying local station can demand that the cable system carry them.

There has been some (but so far minor) attempts to re-write that act to reduce the power of the local stations (or affiliated networks) to extract these funds from cable. The Time Warner “Roll Over or Get Tough” campaign may well fan the flames of changing the cable act (but I wouldn’t bet that will happen with all of the “influence peddling” that is going on.

]]> By: Ian L http://stopthecap.com/2009/12/18/mediacom-vs-sinclair-consumers-stuck-in-the-middle-as-companies-fight-for-your-money/comment-page-1/#comment-8062 Ian L Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:10:36 +0000 http://stopthecap.com/?p=6579#comment-8062 This is why we need a la carte for TV, though I'm still scratching my head as to why a network that broadcasts their service over the open air would want to play hardball and lose eyeballs over a dollar amount that should be way less than they're making on advertising... This is why we need a la carte for TV, though I’m still scratching my head as to why a network that broadcasts their service over the open air would want to play hardball and lose eyeballs over a dollar amount that should be way less than they’re making on advertising…

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