FCC Votes To Close Terrestrial RSN_Exemption

Finally, some common sense on this matter. It will be interesting to see how much of a court challenge is put up. Could I really be watching Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia later this year?? I'm about to faint, and add last nights events yet. Holy Cow! Never say never!

 

Press release from DIRECTV:

 

Great News! Hopefully now things start to break and we get all the RSN's!!!

 

Sounds like good news for the Padres fans here in San Diego, I know its been a sticking point not being able to get Channel 4.

 

awesome!

 

Seems odd that DirecTV doesn't realize they trade on the NYSE

 

This is beyond huge news. Finally after 8 years I'll be able to watch Phillies Flyers and 76ers games.

 

Google says they trade on Nasdaq:

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:DTV

 

D'oh, I hadn't realized they had gone through with the plan to primarily trade stocks with 1, 2, or 3 letters on NASDAQ

 

I wonder if this means that they must supply the HD RSN feed, if applicable?

E.g., some of my family members who are NY FiOSTV customers only get the Cablevision MSG channels in SD. I have to assume that's because Verizon and Cablevision compete aggressively for customers in this area.

 

Hurray! I know I for one have written to the FCC and to my Senators about this issue (I am sure that went a long way:nono2

I wonder what happens next (court challenge, feet dragging etc.) -- I wonder if Comcast will use VS (or some other method) for most of this content (76ers, Phillies, Flyers) and hold that back from DirecTV using that as a new "loophole"/cost fee raising battle.

I am still pessimistic about this happening any time soon, if at all. But hey that's what living in Philly means right? -- angry/pessimistic - every one is out against "us".

Hopefully we will see Philly Comcast Sportsnet on D* soon!

 

I believe there are two current issues relating to Comcast. First is that they make the channel available to FiOS, which, while probably consistant with federal law in the matter, is pretty inconsistant in a 'spirit of the law' sense.

Two, Comcast is going to have to play very nicely with the FCC, the DOJ and other agencies which might have say in their acquisition of NBC. Is CSN-Philly (one channel in one city) worth protecting to the detriment of creating a national media empire?

as one FCC commish points out, this decision seems to conflict with current law, so there's likely to be a law suit over that aspect. So any quick resolution is not likely. Perhaps, as related to my point 2, Comcast will read the writing on the wall, and decide to make the channel available without waiting for the legal matters to conclude. Somehow, I'm not hopeful about that, and expect them to sit on the sidelines and just wait.

And even if the legal matters conclude that the channels cannot be arbitrarily withheld, there's still the whole negotiation for fees, which certainly is already a problem between Comcast and DirecTV regarding Versus.

In short, I'm still not holding my breath, although I think it will happen eventually that CSN ends up on satellite.

 

We'll now find out just how important the NBCU acquisition is to Comcast. If Comcast says one negative word about the decision it will feed the acquisition opponents. Unfortunately Comcast isn't the only content withholder. Cablevision and Cox will take the ruling to court.

 

I wonder how long it will take for this for RSN's to show up on Satellite? Or will it get drug out in the courts for years?

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/82172667.html
WoooHOOOO

 

I think this will go to court before it can be implemented. As the dissenting vote in the FCC noted, this may be overstepping the bounds in terms of interpreting the 1992 Act. His opinion, apparently, is that this would require action by Congress to clarify its intent.

I've long felt it inappropriate and anti-consumer for cable and satellite services to also own the content, but I'm not confident that an FCC ruling that might contradict the explicit powers given the FCC by Congress will hold up. But as noted before, if Comcast wants to start buying networks, they probably need to play nice and not appear to seem eager to hold some of its programming "hostage" for anti-competitive means.

 

That is great news!!! Finally the FCC did something right.

 

According to the article: "MVPDs will not be able to deliver a standard-definition version of a regional sports network and withhold the HD version as a way of complying with access requirements. The HD version will be treated as a separate service for purposed of filing program access complaints."

Sounds like they will have to deliver both feeds.

 

Seems somewhat duplicitous that DIRECTV speaks out against sports exclusives.