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Bi-Partisan Group of Legislators Contacts FCC to Resolve Dispute Between Cable Companies and NFL Network for Fans

12/20/2007

Twenty-one leading members of the House of Representatives and Senate have urged FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to consider adopting a dispute resolution mechanism that will bring an end to the stalemate between cable providers like Comcast and Time Warner, and NFL Network. A joint letter from fourteen House members said, “This proposal would not pick winners or losers, but instead creates a mechanism to address a market failure that has prevented consumers from having access to popular programming including the NFL Network, about which our constituents have expressed much concern.”

NFL officials and other programmers this fall have urged the FCC to adopt a rule implementing such a mechanism in the face of Big Cable companies like Time Warner and Cablevision refusing to negotiate with NFL Network and other independent programmers in order to protect their owned and operated channels.

Both Democrats and Republicans have reached out to Chairman Martin, including key leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Blue Dog Democrats. Signatories on the joint House letter include:

• Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)
• Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
• Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX)
• Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY)
• Rep. David Wu (D-OR)
• Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
• Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
• Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL)
• Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
• Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)
• Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA)
• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI)
• Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA)

Recently, other Members of the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle have also called on the FCC to consider adopting this mechanism to resolve the dispute and ensure that consumers all over the country have access to the programming of their choice. The following have separately called on the FCC to consider adopting an approach that would allow the parties to use an independent third party to resolve the dispute in a way that treats all sides fairly:

• Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
• Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ)
• Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)
• Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
• Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA)
• Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL)

Congressional leaders who have contacted the FCC on this matter have expressed concern that their constituents will miss out on the programming that they desire. Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) said, “…my constituents are troubled by cable companies’ discrimination against NFL Network and other high-quality non-sports independent channels in favor of less popular channels that the cable companies own…” Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) reflected his constituents’ concerns, stating, “There is something fundamentally wrong with the cable market when millions of Wisconsin residents are denied the choice to watch their local teams on television…”

Click here and here to read the the letters from the Bi-Partisan Group of Legislators.