Alaska Telco GCI Joins ATVA

Concerned with the pace of rising fees being sought by broadcasters, General Communication, Inc. (GCI, NASDAQ:GNCMA) has joined the American Television Alliance to work for retransmission consent reform.

Retransmission consent fees are payments cable, satellite and phone providers make to broadcasters to carry their signals.

“We want to protect our customers from rising programming fees and the threat of blackouts,” GCI General Counsel Tina Pidgeon said. “The retransmission consent system is broken and does a poor job of incenting parties to reach a reasonable, market-based agreement.  The system needs to change so we can continue to provide the best viewing experience for our customers without paying unreasonable fees for content.”

GCI joins a long list of more than 30 diverse alliance partners, including consumer groups, independent programmers, cable, satellite, and telephone companies, who are educating consumers on the problems with our outdated system of video rules.

Retransmission consent is a provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that requires cable operators and other pay TV providers to obtain permission from broadcasters before carrying their programming.

GCI is the largest Alaska-based and operated integrated telecommunications provider offering voice, data and video services statewide. Learn more about GCI at www.gci.com/about.