DIRECTV BID FOR A LA CARTE PRICING, FIBER DELIVERY OPPOSED
DBS operators shouldn’t be able to offer local TV channels on a la carte basis to subscribers and shouldn’t be able to require fiber delivery of TV signals, broadcasters said in several oppositions to DirecTV petition for reconsideration of local station carriage rules (CS 00-96). NAB said FCC had provided “virtually no justification” for pricing rules, which it said would create “incongruous” unfairness in treatment of different TV stations in same market.
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Some stations would be demoted to “2nd-class status” by a la carte pricing, particularly if most popular stations were offered as package, NAB said. Paxson, in separate filing, said its ability to “compete and survive will be adversely affected” by a la carte pricing because many consumers were unlikely to pay extra for nonmajor stations: “DirecTV seeks the ability to segregate and discriminate among local broadcasters.” Oppositions to a la carte pricing also were filed by ALTV and Network Affiliated Stations Alliance.
DirecTV wants to shift some of its signal quality requirements to broadcasters with its bid to require fiber delivery of TV signals to DBS uplink facilities, Paxson said. NAB said it would be “prohibitively expensive” for stations to establish fiber links to uplinks that are “scores, or even hundreds, of miles from the station’s studio. Broadcasters also said fiber isn’t needed since cable usually receives its broadcast signals at headends over-the-air, and even EchoStar has acknowledged that over-the-air delivery often is acceptable. Requiring fiber delivery also would create “large, and completely unnecessary, disparity between the regulatory regimes applicable to cable systems and satellite carriers,” NAB said.
Other comments on DirecTV petition included: (1) NAB said DBS carriage of vertical blanking interval (VBI) information was at most “transitional” issue that could be resolved easily. It said DirecTV had acknowledged its ability to carry all Line 21 data, which includes most important information, and FCC could solve remaining problem by establishing 6-month transition period and requiring DBS to carry all VBI information for must-carry stations that it carried for retransmission consent stations. (2) Paxson said DBS shouldn’t be exempted from carrying all noncommercial educational TV stations.