25 Years Ago Congress Tried to Punish Cable

The Act allowed companies other than cable operators the ability to distribute socalled cable networksamp160 Cband satellite delivery of nonscrambled network programming had legally been okay since a 1984 act but there was no provision allowing satellite delivery of bundled networksThe Act in overriding a Supreme Court decision allowed local TV broadcasters to choose between demanding a cable operator carry its signal or require the operator to get permission amp8230 the socalled amp8220retransmission consentamp8221amp160 The National Association of Broadcasters won a big war of words with the National Cable Television Association not least because TV stations and local politicians had and have a mutually beneficial relationshipAnd the Act regulated cable subscription ratesThe Cable Act of 1992 was the only time President George Herbert Walker Bush was overridden by Congressamp160 Nobody in Congress liked cable companies muchamp160 Broadcasters had lobbied for the right to negotiate carriage with operatorsBut cable operators werenamp8217t buying it right awayamp160 In particular Dr John Malone and TCI outright refused to either bargain or pay subscriber feesamp160 Other operators thought that was a great ideaamp160 Malone though told Rupert Murdoch and other national broadcasters that maybe just maybe TCI might pay fees for additional channelsamp160 And lo amp160The channels began to appear along with a whole bunch of new fees which is why there are so many channels you donamp8217t watchamp160 Broadcasters kept adding more and cable operators could justify everincreasing rate hikesBut in 1999 the new smalldish satellite operators who werenamp8217t covered by the amp821792 Cable Act needed local signals to compete with cable amp8230 so they offered to pay to carry local channels for which they naturally charged extraAll the while the new networks kept comingamp160 It wasnamp8217t until 2005 though that broadcasters had the leverage to actually get cable operators to pay real cash instead of having joint promotional efforts of trading out for adsamp160 Nexstaramp8217s Perry Mook bargained hard and wonamp160 Operators began paying retransmission fees just like satelliteAnd ever since then broadcasters have soaked cable and satellite subscribers for as much as 40 billion thatamp8217s a amp8220bamp8221amp160 Thatamp8217s according to SampampP Globalamp8217s Kagan unitJust thinkamp160 40 billion for amp8220freeamp8221 overtheair TVamp160 And the broadcastersamp8217 battle for evermore money continues as retransmission fights keep resulting in blackouts at various cable and satellite and now telco servicesSo itamp8217s not just because of cable that cordcutting keeps growing as more and more consumers decide they really donamp8217t need all those channels amp8211 to say nothing of those ever increasing fees amp160In recent retransmission fights Altice USA and Disney settled after long negotiations no blackoutamp160 But Lilly temporarily yanked its Puerto Rico station off DISH during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria amp160Itamp8217s back at least for those few homes which can still get television amp160But really how did some executive make that decision in the first placeamp160Just askingRandom QuestionsWill ATampampT Time Warner happen by the end of this monthamp160 I think amp8220yesamp8221Are NFL ratings this season a disasteramp160 Maybe but their losses track with other groups of programmingamp160 Problem seems to be live TV thatamp8217s losing tractionIs the end of the NFL happening in La La Landamp160 There havenamp8217t been so many empty seats since the USFL a 1980amp8217s experiment that our current President basically killed by refusing to stick to the terms of the agreementWhen will some company repackage all of the single marquee channel services ABC CBS FOX NBC HBO Showtime Starz into a dayafter amp8220all accessamp8221 major network packageamp160 And more to the point what will it cost Just a reminder a la carte generally costs moreWill Comcast as its wireless and skinny bundles inside the Comcast footprint grow stay inside amp8230 or go everywhereWhy did schools stop teaching civicsClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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25 Years Ago Congress Tried to Punish Cable

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Paul S. Maxwell

Jon Miller | Cofounder Marketo, Engagio | The Gumball Machine is Broken - Rethinking B2B Marketing - By Mike Linton

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25 Years Ago Congress Tried to Punish Cable

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