There isn’t any reason for the FCC to recommend additional govt. ...

There isn’t any reason for the FCC to recommend additional govt. intrusion into private contractual negotiations, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC TV affiliate associations said in comments filed on the Satellite Home Viewer Extension & Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) rulemaking. “Neither the Commission nor the court has ever determined that a broadcast station has abused the retransmission consent process or that the rules are, in a any sense, anti-competitive,” the networks said. Earlier, cable companies issued comments that raised concerns that cable rate increases were being driven by retransmission consent rules that allow broadcasters to obtain higher license fees while putting cable at a competitive disadvantage (CD March 3 p6). But now that SHVERA has extended the “good faith” negotiation requirement to 3rd parties seeking to retransmit broadcast signals, the competitive playing field has been leveled even further, the networks said.