FCC Boss Calls Emergency Meeting to Settle Dish, Sinclair Feud FCC Boss Tom Wheeler says the agency is pushing Dish and Sinclair Broadcast to resolve a programming rate standoff that has left millions of Dish customers in 79 markets without local broadcast channels. According to a statement by Wheeler, the FCC boss has directed the agency's Media Bureau to "convene an emergency meeting with DISH and Sinclair to get to the bottom of the dispute and bring back local programming to consumers."

According to Wheeler, the two sides will have until midnight to file their views. "The public interest is the Commission's responsibility," said Wheeler. "We will not stand idly by while millions of consumers in 79 markets across the country are being denied access to local programming. The Commission will always act within the scope of its authority if it emerges that improper conduct is preventing a commercial resolution of the dispute." Except standing by idly is precisely what the FCC has done for several years as consumers repeatedly have found themselves caught in the middle of these fights, losing access to content they often pay an arm and a leg for. Earlier this month the FCC hinted it would Earlier this month the FCC hinted it would finally take action , potentially laying the groundwork for new rules aimed at reducing the chance of total cable and broadcast blackouts.







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Most recommended from 25 comments



Flyonthewall

@teksavvy.com 16 recommendations Flyonthewall Anon They already paid for the service Legally it has to be provided. You can't just sever the access during the agreed upon access time from the original agreement just because they won't immediately agree to the new term that hasn't started yet.



Grow up children. Kearnstd

Space Elf

Premium Member

join:2002-01-22

Mullica Hill, NJ 13 recommendations Kearnstd Premium Member The simple solution. The FCC should rule that during these events the video provider can bring in feeds from other areas they serve. This way the customers do not lose any TV and the provider can keep negotiating.



I want to say the FCC should make retrans fees illegal for anybody that transmits an OTA signal but if they did that the stations would just shut off their transmitters. political_i

join:2013-11-12 10 recommendations political_i Member Time to cut the double dip? As a broadcast station, the whole point of cable and satellite was for the transmission to go further versus the local antenna. However, we then brought in the whole retransmission consent where they can charge for access to the station. I don't think you should be able to have both unless you want to be exclusively carried across cable and stop broadcasting. This in part has allowed Sinclair and others to consolidate local news broadcasts and we keep seeing a consolidation in media. If you use airwaves for TV, then you get your ad revenue, but if cable carries it, I think the only cost that should be considered is for the equipment required to deliver the signal and that is it.