ACA Pushes for 'Buying Group' Definition Change
The definition of a cable TV "buying group" needs updating to include groups that operate like the National Cable Television Cooperative so the NCTC can see the same nondiscriminatory program access protections other buying groups enjoy, the American Cable Association…
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said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in FCC docket 12-68. In a meeting with FCC officials, ACA and NCTC representatives said as the commission looks at program access rules, it needs to ensure buying groups "have the protection that Congress intended" and that the rights of individual members of a buying group to take part in agreements negotiated by the group are ensured. The ACA has been pushing for such language changes since 2012, saying it would let cable-affiliated programmers exclude individual members of a buying group from taking part in the master agreements negotiated by that group with programmers. Meeting participants included Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, others in the bureau's front office and Policy Division, ACA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman and NCTC Senior Vice President-Legal & Regulatory Affairs Jeff Nourse.