GAINESVILLE, VA. — On Super Bowl Sunday, February 8, a real estate agent in this Prince William County, Va., community couldn’t figure out how to tune to WRC-4 in Washington, D.C., the market’s NBC station, on her living room television. Despite numerous attempts by her and guests gathered to watch the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots, accessing the NBCUniversal station couldn’t be had. With no other choice, a paid month-long access fee to the NBCU Peacock app was acquired, delivering access to one of the world’s biggest sporting events of the year.
Does this benefit or harm consumers? How may this facilitate or inhibit the ability of local broadcast TV stations to meet their public interest obligations — a key tenet of the Carr Commission? The FCC’s Media Bureau wants to know.
