Time Warner Cable's decision to raise rates substantially for competitors (DirecTV, AT&T, etc.) to gain access to the company's SportsNet LA channel, has resulted in a blackout that has left 70% of the area's Dodgers viewers unable to watch the majority of games this season -- despite paying an arm and a leg for cable TV.
Last month, FCC Boss Tom Wheeler sent a tough-sounding letter to Time Warner Cable insisting he was "troubled by the negative impact that your apparent actions are having on consumers and the overall video marketplace." Wheeler insisted that he'd be watching the situation closely and would intervene should it be needed. However, five months into the blackout and it's not entirely clear if the FCC will do anything of note:
quote:
...yesterday, some 20 days after the letter was sent, the FCC's press office wouldn't even confirm to TVPredictions.com that Time Warner Cable had responded to Wheeler -- within the 10 day period, or at all. The agency spokesperson said the FCC simply had no comment, a far cry from the headline-grabbing letter to Marcus on July 29 which was apparently triggered by complaints from several Southern California politicians. Industry sources say TWC did respond to Wheeler's letter, but the agency is not planning any action at this time, much less an intervention.
Like most retrans disputes, regulators, upon industry request, have treated these hostile negotiations and resulting blackouts as just "boys being boys," and despite some
occasional lip service over the last few years, haven't made much meaningful progress on protecting paying consumers from being unable to view content they're actually paying for. Consumer groups aren't alone in calling on the FCC to craft new rules; the idea has the support of
smaller cable operators as well.Meanwhile, an FCC source tells
Multichannel News that the FCC is still reviewing documents from Time Warner Cable, so some form of FCC action could still be forthcoming.