Representatives of the CBS Television Network Affiliates Association have shared with members of the FCC’s Media Bureau their unease over the long-pending transfer of control of Paramount Global to the David Ellison-led Skydance Media. In particular, CEOs for three major broadcast TV ownership groups advocated that conditions associated with any merger approval order should be designed to strengthen local stations.
Thanks to an ex parte filing in MB Docket 24-275 submitted this week by Cooley LLP to the FCC, it is now known that Cox Media Group President/CEO Dan York, who chairs the CBS affiliate group, was joined by Sinclair Inc. President/CEO Chris Ripley and Gray Media President/co-CEO Pat LaPlatney at a July 8 meeting with Media Bureau staffers David Brown, Jeremy Miller, Chris Robbins, and Emily Harrison.
Also present: Former FCC Commissioner Robert M. McDowell, who today is a Cooley attorney.
Specifically, the affiliates association stressed that, if conditions are placed on any regulatory approval of the long-stewing merger, they should be crafted to boost over-the-air stations’ capacity to continue serving their communities with local news and information programming.
Additionally, such conductions should address issues related to CBS control over affiliate finances and “virtual MVPD” negotiations, exclusivity of programming, and affiliation renewal practices.
The four topics are significant with respect to the affiliate/network dynamic of the mid-2020s, strained by consumer shifts to digital video delivery platforms and, in particular, the development of Paramount+, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock and HBO Max — OTT entities drawing viewers, and content, from linear television.
Then, there is the ongoing debate over how local TV station owners should have the right to negotiate rights fees for vMVPDs, including YouTube TV — home to NFL Sunday Ticket.
Program exclusivity is potentially thorny issue; at present one-day delays of broadcast content accessible on an OTT platform is standard, with exception of certain live programming.
The appearance of the trio of local TV executives in Washington to share the thoughts of CBS affiliates on the Paramount-Skydance merger comes as Senators Ben Ray Lújan and Ed Markey have again pressed the FCC to vote on the deal already — especially now that Republican Commissioner Olivia Trusty has been sat and a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against President Trump (as a pre-election private citizen) and Paramount over alleged “news distortion” claims regarding a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Paramount’s sale of CBS broadcast licenses to Skydance remains pending before the Commission as The Center for American Rights — the conservative political action group that has brought claims against ABC and NBC, too, for content it hasn’t been happy with — “raises what it describes as significant concerns” about the structure of the proposed transaction. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has expressed his desire to allow CAR to enjoy a full investigation into its claims, while Democrats have vociferously opposed any such action, calling it politically motivated and driven by President Trump.
