Ever since Time Warner Cable released an app that allows users to watch two or three dozen cable channels on iPads we’ve been barraged by press reports of litigation and plans of other multichannel providers to launch similar services. Cablevision has announced it’s launching a similar app that lets subscribers…
Articles Posted in Must-Carry/Retransmission Consent
Client Advisory: A Look at the Decision Enjoining ivi TV From Streaming Broadcast Content on the Internet
On February 22, 2011, US District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the Southern District of New York issued a 59-page decision enjoining ivi TV, Inc. from streaming the programming of various network-affiliated television stations on the Internet without their permission. The judge’s opinion articulates a basic principle of copyright…
Preparing for Retrans Negotiations: Closing the Network Nonduplication Gap
For many television stations, network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity protection are a distant memory. With the ever-increasing number of non-broadcast programming services available to cable operators, the number of distant station signals imported by cable and satellite into local markets has fallen dramatically. As a result, many local television stations…
A Look Ahead at 2011 Reveals an Interesting Year for Retrans, Renewals, and Indecency
Earlier this month we posted our 2011 Broadcasters Calendar on CommLawCenter as well as on our Pillsbury web page. We have been annually publishing the Broadcasters Calendar, which contains much information regarding broadcast station deadlines and legal requirements, for as long as I can recall. It has always been one…
2011 Broadcasters’ Calendar
Below is the text of our 2011 Broadcasters’ Calendar, which lists deadlines that broadcasters should be aware of for 2011. If you would prefer to read the PDF version of the calendar, it can be found here. Items of Note in 2011 1. Applications for Renewal of License: June 1,…
Retrans Watchers Focused on FCC In-State Broadcast Programming Report to Congress
As we discussed in a previous post and separate Client Advisory, the FCC released a Public Notice to implement a provision of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) that requires the FCC to submit a report on in-state broadcast programming to Congress by August 11, 2011. The Public…
Retransmission Concerns Make FCC’s STELA Implementation a Mixed Bag for Broadcasters and Satellite Providers
Yesterday, a day in advance of the November 24th statutory deadline to adopt rules implementing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, the FCC released a flurry of STELA-related orders. STELA governs the satellite carriage of broadcast stations, and in particular, the importation of distant network stations, in local markets.…
Client Alert: FCC Implements Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act
Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission issued three Orders and a Public Notice designed to implement the new requirements of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA). The FCC beat by one day the November 24, 2010 statutory deadline for adopting new rules governing several aspects of satellite operators’ carriage…
The FCC — Caught Between a Retrans Rock and a Hard Place
By Richard R. Zaragoza Talk about being in a tough spot. Members of Congress are urging the FCC to broker an agreement between Cablevision and Fox in their ongoing retransmission consent dispute. Cablevision’s subscribers in the impacted areas are worried that the contractual dispute will not end any time soon…
The Un-Free State of Retransmission Consent
In the heat of the battle raging over carriage of various Fox networks on Cablevision’s systems, Randy May, the founder and chief intellect of the Free State Foundation, has weighed in on the retransmission consent debate (available here). I read his comments with interest, because Randy often provides insightful observations…