Statement from the American Television Alliance on the resolution of the retransmission consent disputes between CBS and both Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks

Washington, D.C. September 2,  2013 — While we are pleased that CBS programming has finally been restored to Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, we are disappointed that the FCC chose not to use its authority to protect consumers or to stop CBS from blocking TWC and Bright House Networks broadband customers across the country from accessing its online content. CBS’ tactics were in clear violation of their public interest responsibilities and a record number of elected officials, consumer groups, and civil rights leaders weighed in to register their concerns.

When subscribers of six different providers in 58 markets are blacked out of 84 separate stations, how can Congress and the FCC fail to acknowledge that the 21-year-old retrans system is broken?

In the next round of hearings on video, we strongly encourage Congress to ask the broadcasters about the record number of blackouts and CBS’ troubling blackout of its online content.