dan9999
01-22-2010, 02:44 PM
FCC: Cable companies can’t shut out Dish Network, DirecTV
Greg Avery of the Denver Business Journal
January 21, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission is closing a loophole that has allowed cable companies to keep their regional sports and other programming off satellite TV.
The FCC vote taken Wednesday should prevent cable companies from excluding satellite companies Dish Network and DirecTV from carrying cable-company owned sports programming in Philadelphia and San Diego. It also sets up a process by which satellite companies can appeal to the FCC for help in similar situations.
Dish Network, a 14 million-subscriber satellite broadcaster based in Colorado, called the FCC’s vote a double victory for consumers.
“First, sports fans in Philadelphia and San Diego will soon have a choice of pay-TV providers; second, consumers can no longer be held hostage during a contract dispute between cable programmers and video distributors,” the company said in a statement.
The largest satellite broadcaster, El Segundo-based DirecTV, is majority owned by John Malone and other investors in his Liberty Media Corp. It has 18 million subscribers.
Under 18-year-old rules, programming owners could refuse to let the satellite companies carry regional channels if they were delivered exclusively by cable — what became known as the “terrestrial loophole.”
In Philadelphia, that meant local cable giant Comcast Corp. could sell its local Comcast Sportsnet programming — which includes game coverage of Philadelphia pro hockey and basketball franchises, plus other sports — to be carried by Verizon’s Fios TV in the area; but Comcast kept Dish and DirecTV from carrying the channels.
The FCC ruling closing the loophole said it’s meant to improve what consumers are offered in some markets.
“These new rules allow DBS providers, telcos and other competitors to obtain more of the “must have” programming they need to offer viable alternative video packages to consumers and an opportunity to file complaints if the programming is withheld,” the FCC said.
Greg Avery of the Denver Business Journal
January 21, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission is closing a loophole that has allowed cable companies to keep their regional sports and other programming off satellite TV.
The FCC vote taken Wednesday should prevent cable companies from excluding satellite companies Dish Network and DirecTV from carrying cable-company owned sports programming in Philadelphia and San Diego. It also sets up a process by which satellite companies can appeal to the FCC for help in similar situations.
Dish Network, a 14 million-subscriber satellite broadcaster based in Colorado, called the FCC’s vote a double victory for consumers.
“First, sports fans in Philadelphia and San Diego will soon have a choice of pay-TV providers; second, consumers can no longer be held hostage during a contract dispute between cable programmers and video distributors,” the company said in a statement.
The largest satellite broadcaster, El Segundo-based DirecTV, is majority owned by John Malone and other investors in his Liberty Media Corp. It has 18 million subscribers.
Under 18-year-old rules, programming owners could refuse to let the satellite companies carry regional channels if they were delivered exclusively by cable — what became known as the “terrestrial loophole.”
In Philadelphia, that meant local cable giant Comcast Corp. could sell its local Comcast Sportsnet programming — which includes game coverage of Philadelphia pro hockey and basketball franchises, plus other sports — to be carried by Verizon’s Fios TV in the area; but Comcast kept Dish and DirecTV from carrying the channels.
The FCC ruling closing the loophole said it’s meant to improve what consumers are offered in some markets.
“These new rules allow DBS providers, telcos and other competitors to obtain more of the “must have” programming they need to offer viable alternative video packages to consumers and an opportunity to file complaints if the programming is withheld,” the FCC said.