Newspapers, Websites Publish ACA President Polka's Comments On Impact Of Sports Programming

A few days prior to Sunday’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis won by the New York Giants, ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka released an Op-Ed to stress the negative impact that rising sports programming costs are having on monthly cable and satellite TV bills.

Polka highlighted the National Football League’s new deals with ESPN, CBS, NBC and FOX worth $42 billion combined and the inability of consumers to opt out of cable and broadcast channels that carry these expensive NFL games. National and local newspapers and websites, such as TVNewsCheck and the Fall River (Mass.) Herald News, distributed Polka’s 830-word Op-Ed, which called on industry to address the sports programming issue soon or run the risk of federal intervention in response to consumer anger.

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In Online Debate, ACA Official Says Retransmission Consent Rules Outdated

In an online debate with representatives from the broadcast TV industry, American Cable Association Vice President of Government Affairs Ross Lieberman asserted that retransmission consent rules are broken and outdated, giving TV station owners a major leg up in carriage negotiations with pay-TV providers, especially smaller independent cable operators.

Lieberman stressed that current regulations embolden broadcasters to make unreasonable cash demands, noting that retrans fees have soared from $215 million in 2006 to an estimated $1.4 billion in 2011. TV stations, he added, are harming consumers not only by escalating the cost of retransmission consent but also by engaging in signal blackouts until their cash demands have been met.

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• Sports Channels Spike Cable Bills (Cedar Falls Times, 2/6)
  As you dip your chicken wings in Ranch dressing during this Sunday’s Super Bowl, munch on Nacho Cheese Doritos and sip Budweiser to put out the fire on your tongue, ask yourself why you are paying more for watching the halftime extravaganza now than you did last year.
• Consolidated Communications To Buy Surewest For $341 Mln (Reuters, 2/6)
  Rural telephone services provider Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc said it will buy SureWest Communications for about $341 million in cash and stock, to expand its digital TV and broadband services.
• MSG To Allow Channel 2 To Air Sabres Game: Broadcast To Be One-Time-Only Event (BuffaloNews.com, 2/6)
  The Buffalo Sabres game will be available on all Western New York television screens Saturday, and fans won't need cable or a satellite dish to see it.
• Louisiana City Blazes High-Speed Web Trail (USA Today, 2/5)
  In this tradition-rich city known for its crawfish etouffee and Zydeco stomps, high-speed Internet rules.
• NFL Network Trying To Steamroll Cable (New York Post, 2/4)
  NFL Network to cable: We got more games.
• TWC Cleared To Take Over Insight, FCC Approves $3 Billion Acquisition (Broadcasting & Cable, 2/2)
  The FCC has approved the purchase of Insight Communications by Time Warner Cable.
• Virtual MSOs: In The Near Future? (Communications Technology, 2/2)
  Disruption in the cable space due to disintermediation and fragmentation is undeniably real.
• Rural Communities Balk At Public Broadband Bill (The Examiner, 2/2)
  Representatives of rural cities and counties across Georgia told a panel of state senators on Thursday that they had to create the broadband networks private providers refused to bring to their communities.
• Sen. Kohl Plans Hearing On Verizon-Cable Deal (The Hill, 2/1)
  Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, said Wednesday he will hold a hearing on Verizon’s $3.6 billion deal to buy wireless airwave licenses from a group of cable companies.
• Viacom CEO Dauman Says He's Open To Unbundling Channels On Favorable Terms (Bloomberg, 1/31)
  Viacom Inc., owner of the Nickelodeon and MTV cable networks, is open to unbundling channels and letting consumers choose the ones they want.
• FCC Seeks Comment On NFL Blackout Rule (Adweek, 1/31)
  Sports blackouts are a sure way to make fans cry foul.
• Retrans Battle Set On Supernova (MediaBiz, 1/31)
  As you'll see, the retransmission consent debate is, if possible, heating up to new levels.
• Cable Operators Have Deployed 32M CableCard Set-Tops (Multichannel News, 1/30)
  Through the end of 2011, the 10 largest U.S. cable operators have rolled out more than 32 million CableCard-enabled set-tops -- and just 554,000 standalone CableCard devices for use in TiVo digital video recorders and other devices, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
• While Football Scores, Other Programmers Get Sacked (Broadcasting & Cable, 1/30)
  The big ratings numbers that football has been pulling in leading up to the Super Bowl leads to the conclusion that the networks that completed those billion dollar passes to the NFL are winners.

For more ACA News visit the Newsroom on the ACA Website.

Across this vast country, small and rural markets participate in the digital revolution by receiving video, broadband, and phone services from nearly 850 small and medium-sized independent operators represented by the American Cable Association (ACA).

ACA’s members -- cable, phone, and fiber-to-the-home operators and municipalities -- deliver affordable basic and advanced services to about 7.4 million households and businesses. ACA members operate in every state, offering high-definition television, next generation Internet access, and digital phone service.

Access to advanced communications is not a luxury but a critical necessity for consumers and companies, schools and hospitals. America’s economic prosperity in smaller markets and rural areas depends on the growth and success of ACA members, who believe a connected nation, is a united nation.

The ACA asks lawmakers and regulators to ensure fair treatment so that small and medium-sized independent operators may continue to supply affordable video, broadband, and phone services to Main Street America. Through active participation in the policymaking process, ACA members and leaders advocate for the interests of their customers, their companies, and their communities to help ensure the continued viability of their way of life in hometown America.

For more information, visit www.americancable.org, or contact:

• Ted Hearn, VP Communications
  (202) 713-0826 | thearn@americancable.org
• Ross Lieberman, VP Government Affairs
  (202) 494-5661 | rlieberman@americancable.org

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