Read the Public Knowledge, New America Foundation and Benton Foundation Letter to the FCC
Dear Chairman Genachowski:
We write to express our appreciation that you intend to begin a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to reform the retransmission consent rules to protect consumers. Since 14 companies, trade associations and public interest groups first submitted a rulemaking petition in this docket in March 2010, the American public has been caught between broadcasters and multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs) several more times in their battles over retransmission consent agreements. We write to reemphasize that the Commission has clear authority to act in this docket, both to enforce the “good faith” requirement and fulfill the Commission’s responsibility to ensure that fees for retransmission consent do not unreasonably raise the basic rate consumers pay for cable.