[opendtv] Re: FCC: Chairman Wheeler comment on Dish-Sinclair dispute
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2015 08:43:13 -0400
On Aug 26, 2015, at 9:06 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
For Craig's benefit, this is the motivation behind the 1992 act.
Wheeler: "We will not stand idly by while millions of consumers in 79 markets
across the country are being denied access to local programming."
No. That's just a big mouth talking smack with nothing to back it up.
The 1992 legislation gave Sinclair the right to negotiate for retrans consent,
AND to prevent MVPDs from importing equivalent content from an adjacent market.
It was the perfect storm for broadcasters, resulting in more than $6 billion in
a second revenue stream this year - projected to become more than $20 billion
by the end of this decade.
The FCC does not have the authority to change this, even though Wheeler is
saying he does. Then again he pushed the net neutrality rules through under
Title II. Now we must wait to see if the courts agree.
The same will happen if Wheeler tries to make an exception in non duplication
rules so that MVPDs can import out-of-market stations during these retrans
blackouts. But here the legislation is very clear - the FCC cannot change the
law.
Never mind taking sides on who is right and who is wrong. If the local
stations were available to everyone on a neutral network, instead of said
millions of consumers having to rely exclusively (in practice exclusively) on
a non-neutral monopolistic local medium, surely you wouldn't have any
blackout.
Station are already present on your neutral network. Problem is they do not
have the rights to make the content people want to watch available - the
content owners hold that card. So the best we have seen to date is CBS All
Access, and even with that service the NFL won't let CBS offer the games that
are available FOTA.
And CBS All Access is not free. If ABC, NBC and Fox create similar services, it
would cost more than $25/mo to get four networks over your neutral pipe.
It is true that already today, in principle, anyone should be able to
circumvent this blackout. If not using OTA, then going to the networks' own
web sites, or Hulu. The content might be delayed online, until the congloms
get more serious about Internet distribution, as inevitably they will.
The card that Sinclair is playing is obvious to everyone but you Bert. The
start of football season is just weeks away, and the Sinclair stations carry
both college and NFL games that you cannot access live over the Internet. This
is how broadcasters play the retrans consent game. They time the blackouts
ahead of major events that people still watch by appointment.
The fundamental point is inescapable. Hey, let's even postulate that the
local CDN that carries NBC (or whatever content) gets in a spat with NBC, and
threatens to black it out in their local ISP nets. It's a relatively much
simpler matter for NBC to set up with another CDN, in short order, and with
no impact on consumer equipment.
Totally irrelevant. It's a neutral pipe...correct.
The issue is getting that content onto the neutral pipe in the first place.
So let's see. Would such a restructured distribution scheme encourage or
discourage these parties from coming to speedy agreements?
There would be no reason for such agreements if the content owners and their
affiliates adopted your business model. But yo do that they need to figure out
how to get the public to pay $20 billion a year to replace the revenue they
would be leaving on the table by the end of this decade.
Regards
Craig
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