The American Television Alliance says Alaska MVPD and telecom GCI has joined its coalition of cable operators, satellite operators and others backing retransmission consent reforms.
"We want to protect our customers from rising programming fees and the threat of blackouts,” GCI General Counsel Tina Pidgeon said in a statement released by ATVA. "The retransmission consent system is broken and does a poor job of incenting parties to reach a reasonable, market-based agreement."
ATVA has been pushing for retrans reforms in the latest satellite reauthorization bill, House and Senate versions of which included a provision against coordinated retransmission consent negotiations that ATVA argues have put a thumb on the scale in favor of broadcasters.
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