While directors (DGA) and actors (SAG-AFTRA) have come out against FCC chairman Tom Wheeler's latest set-top proposal, writers are standing with the chairman.
The Writers Guild of America, West, which represents over 8,000 video and film writers, supports the chairman's app-based plan, which they say gives consumers "real choice," promotes competition, and protects copyrights and programming.
WGAW supports, among other things, a standard license agreement and requiring MVPDs to supply video navigation apps to widely deployed platforms.
"Ensuring that MVPDs cannot use such licenses as a means to disadvantage independent programmers, favor MVPD programming over online video search results, or prevent devices from providing access to content outside the MVPD app" is in the public interest, WGAW argued in a letter to members of the Senate Commerce Committee and the FCC commissioners.
The letter comes in advance of an FCC oversight hearing in the committee Sept. 15 featuring those commissioners.
