Blackouts on Record Pace, ATVA Says; NAB Says Pay TV 'Playing Games'
Blackouts are on pace to reach record levels this year, the American TV Alliance said in a news release Tuesday. ATVA said the 142 so far in 2017 surpass the 2016 total of 104. Also pointing to rising broadcast retransmission…
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fees, ATVA said "broadcasters have gone nuclear in 2017," backing unspecified congressional and FCC action. ATVA said along with the ongoing Hearst/Dish Network carriage disruption (see 1703270060), carriage of SLJ Broadcasting signals on DirecTV have been disrupted in three markets. NAB in a statement said it "supports the conclusion by the FCC last year that no new rules are warranted in free-market retrans negotiations. Rather than attempt to orchestrate a government bailout by playing games during negotiations, the pay-TV behemoths behind ATVA should focus instead on reaching agreements that benefit themselves, local broadcasters and most importantly, consumers.”