CBS CEO Moonves Lobbying FCC Against Totality of Circumstances Test Changes
Multichannel video programming distributors' complaining about retransmission consent matters doesn't reflect an unbalanced marketplace, merely "that they are finally feeling the pain that competition can bring," CBS CEO Leslie Moonves and other top executives told FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler and…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, according to a CBS ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 15-216. At the meeting, CBS said Moonves urged the FCC to end its consideration of changes to the totality of circumstances test of good faith negotiating, saying MVPDs will use the open proceedings as an excuse not to negotiate in good faith with broadcasters "in the hopes that the government will rescue them from an experience that is new to them: The rough and tumble of the marketplace." The only leverage broadcasters have is "desirable, high quality content," CBS said, saying broadcasters "should not be penalized or handicapped because they invest billions of dollars in creating and acquiring programming that MVPDs desire." Meanwhile, given broadcast and over-the-top distribution platforms, it said, "the content is never 'blacked out' completely." According to CBS, Moonves said the totality of circumstances proposals -- along with the FCC proposal regarding the network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity rules -- will result in "precious agency resources [spent] in oversight and enforcement of negotiations that are best left to the marketplace."