The NAB has taken aim at a pair of Media Bureau items presently open to comments as part of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking primarily focused on cable operator notice requirements.
For the broadcast media industry’s chief lobbying organization, the issue it seems “modernization” on is the Commission’s rules governing broadcast TV stations’ carriage elections. In short, the NAB wants the default selection to be retransmission consent, rather than must-carry status.
That’s likely to set off an even fiercer war between MVPDs and broadcast TV companies — many of whom have seen their retrans fees soar as advertising revenue has slumped in order to keep profits in line with investor expectations.
