Cable operator Mediacom blasts FCC...

A major cable operator has blasted the Federal Communications Commission
for not taking an active role in trying to keep programming costs down.
>
> In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Rocco Commisso, the
> chairman and chief executive of Mediacom, a New York-based cable operator
> with about 1.14 million subscribers in 22 states, criticized the regulatory
> agency for not being aggressive in trying to keep programming costs down.
>
> "I am deeply disappointed with the Commission's lack of interest in keeping
> multichannel television services affordable," Commisso wrote. "Content
> owners have been unwilling to exercise the slightest measure of
> self-restraint, and are emboldened by the Commission's unwillingness to even
> try to impose some limits or speak out against programmers' practices."
>
> Commisso said that by not acting, the FCC has "cost Americans billions of
> dollars, as programming owners have increased their rates well in excess of
> inflation."
>
> Much of Commisso's beef is about having to pay broadcasters more in
> so-called retransmission consent fees to retransmit their local television
> stations.
>
> "It is especially shameful that retransmission consent fees have
> dramatically increased even as movies and sports events migrate from
> broadcast channels to pay networks and broadcast stations severely cut staff
> and budgets for news and public affairs programming," Commisso said.
>
> The veteran cable executive is also upset with the way cable programmers
> bundle their popular and unpopular channel together so distributors have to
> carry them all on the most widely distributed programming tiers.
>
> "Subscribers are forced to pay for channels they do not want," Commisso
> told the FCC.
>
> Commisso said the growing cost of programming is hurting Genachowski's
> efforts to provide broadband to low-income homes and that a "digital divide"
> is being created as prices rise "beyond the means or more and more
> Americans."
>
> Remedies Commisso pitched include designing an a la carte system that would
> give consumers more control over what channels they get. He also wants more
> transparency, including the ability to require broadcasters and cable
> networks to make public what they charge distributors to carry their
> channels.
>
> "Right now I'm just a collection agency for the programming community,"
> Commissio said in an interview. "We take the brunt of the criticism because
> we send the bill to the consumer."
>
> Thank you Hollywood Reporter
>
Have a great day ☼

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