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FCC Unlikely To Address Retrans Fees

Los Angeles Times, Friday, May 14, 2010 12:10 AM

The Federal Communications Commission has little inclination to start regulating the disputes over fees broadcasters want cable operators to pay to carry their channels. Over the last several months there have been a handful of high-profile fights between broadcasters and cable operators, including Fox and Time Warner Cable and more recently ABC and Cablevison Systems.

Several pay-TV companies, led by Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, asked the FCC in March to revisit the nearly 20-year-old "retransmission consent" rules as well as passing a rule that would take away a broadcaster's ability to pull its channel during a carriage dispute. Sherrese Smith, a legal advisor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, said, "We see this as a market situation," adding that most of these disputes are resolved before a channel gets yanked.

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regulation, television

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