Legislation being drafted by Sen. John McCain is in response to broadcaster threats of shifting network shows to cable if the courts affirm the right of Barry Diller’s Aereo and similar services to retransmit broadcast programming online without paying broadcasters.
Bill Would Pull Licenses Over Move To Cable
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is drafting legislation that would require the FCC to yank the TV licenses of any broadcaster that shifts their TV programming to cable, according to industry lobbyists.
The lawmaker’s bill, which could be introduced as soon as Thursday, also would require cable and satellite operators to offer programming to their customers on an a la carte basis — or lose the compulsory copyright license that currently allows them to carry broadcast programming without having to negotiate for each broadcast program’s rights individually, the lobbyists said.
In addition, the draft bill, as described by the senator’s staff in briefings with industry lobbyists on Monday and Tuesday, would eliminate the sports blackout rule, which currently allows the NFL and other sports leagues to black out local TV sports programming to protect stadium attendance.
The provision that would require the FCC to pull the licenses of broadcasters who shift programming to cable apparently comes in response to recent announcements of broadcast TV network executives that they might consider shifting network shows to cable if the courts affirm the right of Barry Diller’s Aereo and similar services to retransmit broadcast programming online without paying the broadcasters.
Industry lobbyists said McCain is hoping to introduce the legislation in advance of a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing on video issues that has been scheduled for May 14. Among the witnesses slated for the session, according to sources, are Gordon Smith, NAB president-CEO, and Michael Powell, National Cable & Telecommunications Association president-CEO, sources said.
Industry lobbyists said that the McCain bill has little chance of passing. McCain, who previously chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees media industry issues, is no longer even a member of the committee.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
At deadline, a spokesman for Sen. McCain, who has been a long-time advocate of a la carte, had not returned telephone calls.
NAB declined comment, as did a spokesman for NCTA.
Comments (117)
alicia farmer says:
May 8, 2013 at 10:30 am
Surprising there isn’t a reference to starting a war and bombing something in McCain’s bill.
Maria Black says:
May 8, 2013 at 12:09 pm
I would very much like to see an end to the sports blackout, maybe if those stadiums had reasonable pricing they wouldn’t need that stupid rule. I also like the a la carte idea too, but I’m one of those people who doesn’t have cable. Maybe this will at least get something going on those issues, even if it doesn’t get anywhere.
Ellen Samrock says:
May 8, 2013 at 12:11 pm
McCain has lost it. Instead of working on legislation that might possibly help the high unemployment, sputtering economy, broken healthcare system and a myriad other ills afflicting this country, he crafts a bill that is essentially a free-pass card for Aereo. McCain’s obsession with broadcast media (which he has made no secret to hating) has finally run amok. He needs to be declared unfit for office and sent to a long-term care rehab facility. And I do mean long-term.
Warren Harmon says:
May 8, 2013 at 7:29 pm
As a fellow Navy Veteran and conservative individual, I too am appalled to see Senator McCain continue with his flawed and moronic behavior. I truly an ashamed to see him in public office could be that all those years of being a POW fracked his brain. Clearly it would be a HUGE benefit to the people if he were not a senator. Hell we might have even had a better candidate that would have put this POS oBAMa out to pasture.
Manuel Morales says:
May 8, 2013 at 1:34 pm
So let me get this straight- he’s proposing pulling the licenses of local affiliates who’s Network partner goes straight to cable? Just another example of politicians with no fundamental understanding of what they propose.
Brian Bussey says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:42 pm
I was wondering if was the only person that noticed that. There is no reason for McCain to hate broadcasters. he spends every Sunday Morning with them explaining his war mongering ways.
Brian Bussey says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:43 pm
then again all of the major nets have O&Os. Somebody needs to explain to me how fox got like 30 of them…..legally.
Halie Johnson says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:23 pm
I like the a la carte idea, but the rest is pure BS. Most of us make satellite and cable providers PAY US to rebroadcast our signals, Aereo shouldn’t be any different.
McCain needs to stop listening to his high paying lobbiest buddies and learn about how something works before he drafts a bill.
rob ewert says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:37 pm
Wonder how it would affect existing affiliate agreements?
#lawyerswetdream
c munc says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:40 pm
This bill, with LPTV amendments to participate in the auction, and other related items such as flex-use, could be key in making the looming Spectrum Auctions a fair process. There is a lot of pent-up frustration with the way the FCC is acting so go for it McCain.
Matthew Craft & David K. Randall says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Presumably McCain means that networks who moved to cable would lose the licenses of their O&O’s. This is still bizarre reasoning since losing prime time programs would effectively put both owned and affiliated stations out of business. Ironically, a la carte pricing for cable networks is just as impractical as niche networks like Golf, Tennis or even Cooking Channel would lose carriage and revenue. Consumers would end up paying much more for a long list of individual subscriptions.
Brad Dann says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:46 pm
He wants the FCC judge what programming should be offered by cable and what should be offered OTA; and he has the audacity to call himself a Republican? Let alone the 1st Amendment issues.
matt fess says:
May 8, 2013 at 3:49 pm
McCain has not been a friend to broadcasters ever, yet the broadcasters put him on whenever they need a political spokesperson. McCain has used the broadcasters for years and here is another example of him sticking it to them. Wise up broadcasters and boycott McCain.
Jeff Groves says:
May 8, 2013 at 4:33 pm
It’s a Start. I’d like to see the Bill amended so that all commercials would have to be rated so parents can block ads they don’t want their children to see.
Bill Greep says:
May 8, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Typical Washington reaction after “power lunch” between a legislator and a lobbyist buddy. Arthur is right in that this was the spirit of the proposal (targeting O&O’s)… Take broadcast away from homes and watch what happens next if you really like “reality TV” !
Matthew Castonguay says:
May 8, 2013 at 5:18 pm
How about drafting legislation to close the loophole that Aereo was designed to exploit? It’s clearly not consistent with the original intent of the existing law, which was drafted before technology existed to support what Aereo is doing (actually, it was believed to be practically impossible – up until about 2003 everyone was saying that streaming video would “never” be good enough to be viewed on a TV). Probably underlying laws need a more comprehensive overhaul than that – including perhaps some of McCain’s other ideas – but it should be tackled holistically. The way things are going, it will disintegrate into anarchy…closing the loophole would at least preserve status quo pending a more comprehensive approach.
Joanne McDonald says:
May 8, 2013 at 8:15 pm
McCain, I like this idea of revoking licenses of broadcasters that choose to threaten to turn and move the broadcast network into a cable only network and move broadcasting network programming to cable if Aereo wins the dispute. This means no trying to be way too big being the Wal-Mart’s, the Paramount Pictures with the movie theater chain of the 1940’s, the Clive Davis’s of when he was at Columbia Records in the early 1970’s, the Neil Bogart’s of Casablanca Records fame of the 1970′s disco era, the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s, the David Smith (one of the Smith brothers from Sinclair Broadcast Group), the Perry Sock and the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, the Harry Pappas as part of the Pappas Telecasting Companies, the Bernard Madoff’s, the Enron’s, the Worldcom’s, the Adelphia’s, the Tyco’s, the Martha Stewart’s, the Jill Kelley’s, the Orie sister’s, and the Jesse Jackson Jr’s, of the 2000′s by letting broadcast greed get out of control so all of the head employees and bosses be able to enjoy carefree lavishly spending to support carefree lavishly lifestyles with luxurious homes, luxurious yachts, luxurious jets, luxurious cars, join luxurious clubs, be in luxurious cruises, go to luxurious conventions, go to luxurious hotels, go to luxurious casinos to do gambling, go to horse races, throw luxurious parties, and have other luxurious items just to make them very happy then trying and willingness to keep FOX/MYNET, Univision/UniMas, CBS/CW, NBC/Telemundo, and ABC as a broadcast network. This means no trying to bribe like the General Tire/RKO General of the 1960′s and 1970′s by not being very honest of not only the viewers by making sure Aereo goes out of business and turns FOX/MYNET, Univision/UniMas, CBS/CW, NBC/Telemundo, and ABC into a cable network and also on themselves. This means no trying to be too big being way too busy being the Baauer Harlem Shake, the PSY Gangnam Style, the Carly Rae Jepsen Call Me Maybe, the Nicole Westbrook It’s Thanksgiving, the Rebecca Black Friday, the Double Take Hot Problems and the Guns N Roses Axl Rose as well as trying be act like the Jerry Sandusky’s as the assaulters, the Jodi Arias’s, the Casey Anthony’s, the Charles Starkweather’s, the Charles Manson’s, the Lyle and Erik Menendez’s, the O. J. Simpson’s, the Scott Peterson’s, and the Drew Peterson’s as the greedy murderers, the Lindsay Lohan’s as the drunk and the drug abuser, the Rodney Dangerfield’s, the John Belushi’s, and the Chris Farley’s as the comedians, the Gordon Gekko’s, the Victoria Grayson’s, the Victor Newman’s/the Jack Abbott’s, the J. R. Ewing’s/the Cliff Barnes’s, the Charles Montgomery Burn’s, the Homer and Bart Simpson’s, the Peter Griffin’s, the Mickey Mouse’s/the Minnie Mouse’s, the Bugs Bunny’s/the Daffy Duck’s/the Porky Pig’s, the Garfield cat’s, the Cookie Monster’s, the Miss Piggy’s, and the Pillsbury Doughboy’s, of the broadcasting industry of wanting to turn FOX/MYNET, Univision/UniMas, CBS/CW, NBC/Telemundo, and ABC into a cable network if Aereo wins. This means no trying to turn into the 1919 Chicago White Sox’s baseball team and the Southern Methodist University football of the 1980′s to force FOX/MYNET, Univision/UniMas, CBS/CW, NBC/Telemundo, and ABC viewers to deal with all of them being a cable network if Aereo wins in a big huge ugly game of baw baw baw baw baw baw baw baw baw baw baw baw chicken in the future of the cable and broadcasting industry. McCain, Aereo would be useful for stations to inform viewers for news and weather reports and also for all Hispanics and Latinos. I feel that all of the fat cat politicians and the fat cat television broadcast station owner and parent want to see free to air digital television from a antenna to go away and force all of the cable and satellite operators to pay up a lot more money for the rights to carry local stations so all of the fat cat politicians and the fat cat television broadcast station owner and parent can have carefree lavish spending to fully support their endless greedy lavish lifestyles for their own political gain by way of block booking and extortion is so very shameful and so very disgraceful in my own personal opinion and theory. I feel all the today’s fat cat politicians have never learned from various scandals happening in the past. Have those fat cat broadcasters and fat cat politicians learned from the Paramount Pictures practice of block booking with theatrical theatres of the 1940’s, No, the General Tire/RKO General broadcasting license scandal of the 1960’s and the 1970’s, No, the Southern Methodist University football scandal of the 1980’s, No. These are examples of what I feel that all of the fat cat broadcasters and the fat cat politicians are trying to do to attack both Aereo and all over the air television from the antenna in a few years into the future. McCain, BTW, it actually was my idea to negatively attack broadcasters for trying to hurt Aereo ability to help serve the viewers to the public in the present and in the future.
Keith ONeal says:
May 8, 2013 at 10:02 pm
James, I wish you would shorten your comments to a few sentences and get to the point. You don’t need to write a book to say what you need to say, ok? I don’t even know half the time what you’re trying to say.
Blair Faulstich says:
May 8, 2013 at 11:15 pm
James Cieloha should be banned from any future postings, inane rattlings of an absurd mind.
Jeff Groves says:
May 9, 2013 at 8:35 am
Seconded!
similar web-site says:
July 19, 2018 at 11:32 am
My brother suggested I might like this website. He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
eventlocation hamburg schiff says:
July 25, 2018 at 8:38 am
It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read even more things about it!
systemischer berater therapie says:
July 25, 2018 at 1:41 pm
Valuable information. Fortunate me I discovered your website by chance, and I’m shocked why this twist of fate did not took place earlier! I bookmarked it.
metallzaun garten says:
July 25, 2018 at 5:21 pm
Very good written information. It will be valuable to anybody who employess it, as well as yours truly :). Keep up the good work – for sure i will check out more posts.
polnische pflegekräfte says:
July 25, 2018 at 9:02 pm
magnificent submit, very informative. I wonder why the opposite specialists of this sector do not understand this. You must proceed your writing. I’m confident, you have a great readers’ base already!
Going Here says:
July 28, 2018 at 12:47 am
It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read even more things about it!
read more says:
July 28, 2018 at 3:07 am
I¡¦m not positive where you are getting your information, however good topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or working out more. Thanks for excellent info I used to be searching for this information for my mission.
Discover More Here says:
July 28, 2018 at 4:25 am
Wonderful site. Lots of useful info here. I’m sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks to your sweat!
Go Here says:
July 28, 2018 at 9:06 am
Keep functioning ,remarkable job!
Home Page says:
July 30, 2018 at 4:39 am
There is noticeably a lot to realize about this. I consider you made some good points in features also.
Learn More says:
July 30, 2018 at 6:01 am
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research on this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such great info being shared freely out there.
Read This says:
July 31, 2018 at 4:24 am
I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thank you, I will try and check back more often. How frequently you update your web site?
read more says:
August 1, 2018 at 2:17 am
I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours today, but I never discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. It¡¦s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content material as you did, the internet can be much more useful than ever before.
Web Site says:
August 1, 2018 at 3:58 am
hey there and thank you for your info – I have definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical issues using this website, as I experienced to reload the web site lots of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and could damage your high quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my email and could look out for a lot more of your respective interesting content. Ensure that you update this again soon..
Read More says:
August 4, 2018 at 8:35 am
Wonderful site. Lots of useful info here. I’m sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks to your sweat!
Find Out More says:
August 5, 2018 at 3:16 am
I’m so happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the accidental misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
get more info says:
August 5, 2018 at 5:46 am
Whats Going down i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I am hoping to give a contribution
chemical dependency treatment center says:
August 6, 2018 at 12:35 am
Hi there, You have done an incredible job. I will definitely digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this site.
auto windshield replacement says:
August 6, 2018 at 4:41 am
I was just looking for this info for a while. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your web site. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative websites in top of the list. Generally the top web sites are full of garbage.
Read More Here says:
August 6, 2018 at 5:58 am
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all folks you really understand what you’re speaking about! Bookmarked. Please also talk over with my web site =). We may have a link change arrangement between us!
Read More says:
August 7, 2018 at 1:07 pm
Wonderful paintings! This is the kind of info that are meant to be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for no longer positioning this submit upper! Come on over and discuss with my website . Thank you =)
Find Out More says:
August 7, 2018 at 2:21 pm
Wow! This can be one particular of the most beneficial blogs We have ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Great. I’m also an expert in this topic so I can understand your hard work.
visit here says:
August 8, 2018 at 8:21 am
I get pleasure from, result in I found just what I used to be taking a look for. You have ended my four day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
Web Site says:
August 9, 2018 at 12:20 am
You really make it seem really easy with your presentation but I to find this topic to be actually one thing which I think I might by no means understand. It seems too complicated and extremely wide for me. I’m looking ahead for your next put up, I will try to get the hang of it!
Web Site says:
August 9, 2018 at 6:23 am
I do accept as true with all of the ideas you have offered for your post. They are very convincing and can certainly work. Still, the posts are too brief for novices. Could you please prolong them a little from next time? Thank you for the post.
top juicers 2018 says:
August 11, 2018 at 1:39 am
Thank you for any other wonderful post. The place else may anybody get that type of information in such an ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am at the look for such info.
Find Out More says:
August 14, 2018 at 7:53 am
I as well as my guys were actually digesting the good ideas from your web site then at once I had a terrible feeling I never expressed respect to you for those secrets. The men ended up for that reason warmed to read them and have really been enjoying them. Appreciation for actually being quite kind as well as for making a decision on certain amazing subject matter most people are really wanting to be informed on. My sincere regret for not expressing gratitude to you earlier.
Learn More says:
August 14, 2018 at 8:53 am
I have read some just right stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much attempt you place to make this type of excellent informative website.
Get More Info says:
August 14, 2018 at 3:01 pm
Howdy very cool site!! Man .. Excellent .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also¡KI am glad to search out numerous useful info here within the post, we want work out extra strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
view source says:
August 14, 2018 at 5:02 pm
Thanks for another informative blog. The place else could I get that kind of information written in such a perfect means? I’ve a project that I’m simply now working on, and I’ve been on the glance out for such info.
christmas decor at home says:
August 15, 2018 at 1:03 am
Wonderful site. Lots of useful info here. I’m sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks to your sweat!