FCC Ban on Exclusive Cable Deals Upheld

WASHINGTON, D.C.: In a 2-1 vote, a federal appeals court has upheld a FCC rule that prevents cable platforms from withholding channels from rival operators.

The court backed the FCC’s 2007 decision to extend the ban, first put in place in 1992, for a further five years. Platforms like Comcast and Cablevision, which own their own channels, had been lobbying for the restriction to be lifted, given the level of competition in the pay-TV market today. The appeals court did concede that, with rapid changes in the landscape, the exclusivity prohibition would eventually not be needed.

Responding to the decision, Cablevision noted: “Like the must carry and retransmission consent regime that allowed ABC to blackout the Oscars for 3 million New York households this week, the program access rules are based on an outdated and obsolete view of the competitive landscape. In today’s highly competitive video marketplace these rules do nothing but tilt the playing field in favor of phone companies and broadcasters to the detriment of fair competition and consumers.”