FCC Enters The Retrans Fray With TV ‘Blackout’ Proceeding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As expected, the FCC has moved ahead on a party-line 3-2 vote with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will establish an agency regulatory policy requiring rebates for MVPD consumers who face programming “blackouts” due to a retransmission consent impasse.

With a comment period ahead, it sets up a battle between the cable TV service providers who have advocated for a wholesale abandonment of the retransmission fee and a broadcast TV industry that has vociferously argued that MVPDs should pony up bigger dollars for the right to carry their valued programming.