ACA filed a petition Fri. for a rulemaking that would change retr...

ACA filed a petition Fri. for a rulemaking that would change retransmission consent regulations “to reflect marketplace changes for broadcasters, consumers and smaller cable companies,” the group said. The rule changes would: (1) maintain the broadcast exclusivity regulations for stations that elect must carry or do not seek additional consideration for retransmission consent. (2) Eliminate broadcast exclusivity when a broadcaster elects retransmission consent and seeks additional consideration for carriage by a small cable company. (3) Prohibit any party, including a network owner, from preventing a broadcast station from negotiating retransmission consent with a small cable company. “Broadcaster cash demands threaten to add more than $860 million to the basic cost of cable,” ACA said. “Competition and consumers are harmed when broadcasters use exclusivity and network affiliate agreements to extract supracompetitive ‘prices’ for retransmission consent from small cable companies.” The group has filed a petition for inquiry into retransmission consent practices but said the changes requested in the rulemaking could resolve issues raised in the inquiry and therefore ACA would be willing to withdraw its inquiry petition.