Since 12/19, more than 100,000 Buckeye Cablevision subscribers have endured Sinclair’s blackout of WWNO-TV (NBC) in Toledo, OH. So, on 2/18 Buckeye filed a bad faith complaint at the FCC. Buckeye says it isn’t asking for the Commission to dictate an outcome or even mandate that Sinclair accept a ratings-based approach. They just want them to force Sinclair to get back to the negotiating table; stop demanding that they carry those future cable networks; and consider the competitive marketplace in the talks.
Buckeye amended its complaint 2/21 to note that Sinclair has made a “public declaration” (in a press release) that it has ended negotiations, a “flagrant violation” of the rules and requesting that the Commission “immediately initiate enforcement action against Sinclair” and require the company to “return to the bargaining table.”
Some excerpts:
“The Press Release shows SBG’s contempt for Congress’s retransmission consent negotiating regime and is a direct challenge to the FCC’s good faith bargaining rules. And it is obvious that SBG is retaliating against Buckeye for availing itself of those rules by filing the Complaint. To maintain the integrity of the retransmission consent system, the FCC must respond to SBG’s open defiance of the rules.”
The primary victims of SBG’s bad faith are Toledo cable television subscribers that have been deprived of access to NBC network programming for the last two months due to SBG’s misconduct. The Press Release publicly confirms the allegations in the Complaint and unequivocally demonstrates that SBG has no plans to provide any relief to the viewers that it is licensed to serve. Instead, SBG will continue to place its pursuit of unfair and excessive retransmission consent payments above its duty to serve Toledo viewers in the public interest. And SBG will flaunt its refusal to negotiate until the FCC makes it return to bargaining.
SBG’s conduct forces a clear and crucial choice on the FCC – the agency can either enforce the good faith rules against SBG or surrender the only weapon it has to combat unlawful bad faith. No issue of fact exists in this matter; SBG has admitted that it will not negotiate. The FCC must act swiftly to ensure that retransmission consent negotiations continue. The only way to accomplish this result and to ensure that SBG conforms its conduct to the FCC’s rules in this and future disputes is to (1) issue an order requiring SBG to return to the bargaining table immediately; and (2) commence enforcement action to examine SBG’s admitted violation of the rules.”
I feel the FCC would be willing to allow other broadcasters to allow better broadcasters such as Lin Media to purchase WNWO if David Smith, Barry Faber, and Sinclair broadcast Group continue to refuse and fail to allow Buckeye Cable to carry WNWO without any difficulties and any interference continues to get much worse.
Maybe convincing LinMedia to buy WNWO as the only last resort to put WNWO back on Buckeye Cable right now and maybe even also buy WEYI as well. Convince Tribune to have KTVI and WGHP get reaffiliated with the ABC Television Network with KPLR getting FOX and KDNL is down to CW in Saint Louis with Tribune having to sell KTVI if it became a ABC affiliated station again for Saint Louis that Tribune could sell KTVI to Hearst as a way for Hearst to own ABC affiliates in both Kansas City and Saint Louis while Tribune keeps KPLR if it became a new FOX affiliated for Saint Louis and WXLV is stuck with FOX in Greensboro-Winston-Salem to prevent Sinclair from having KDNL and WGHP get their ABC Network affiliation renewed as punishment for Sinclair’s past business practices. I encourage every Buckeye Cable subscriber to reject Sinclair planned acquisition of TV stations from Allbritton that Sinclair is using to take WJLA’s News Channel 8 into a national news channel for Sinclair that isn’t yet on the air that Sinclair wants all the cable and satellite to carry the cable channel on cable and satellite basic tier as part of all retransmission consent contracts to put their news and opinions on the planned news channel that Sinclair will launch if their planned acquisition of TV stations from Allbritton were to go through the FCC and the DOJ by gambling and self destructing their business future themselves. I encourage Buckeye Cable viewers to read the articles related to #DavidSmith and #Sinclair that I claimed to show how Sinclair is the real bully and not Buckeye that Sinclair has always been getting away with violating FCC rules and regulations and their way of affecting TV station newsrooms right now.
Cable and satellite are useful for carrying stations to inform viewers for news and weather reports and also for all minories. I feel that all of the bean counting and bloated fat cat politicians and the bean counting and bloated fat cat television broadcast station owner and parent want to see and force all of the cable and satellite operators to pay up a lot more money for the rights to carry local stations so all of the bean counting and bloated fat cat politicians and the bean counting and bloated fat cat television broadcast station owner and parent can have carefree lavish spending to fully support their endless carefree greedy piggish selfish lavish lifestyles for their own political gain by way of block booking and extortion is so very shameful and so very disgraceful in my own personal opinion and theory. I feel all of the today’s bean counting and bloated fat cat broadcasters and bean counting and bloated fat cat politicians have never learned from various scandals happening in the past. Have those bean counting and bloated fat cat broadcasters and bean counting and bloated fat cat politicians learned from the Paramount Pictures practice of block booking with theatrical theatres of the 1910-1940’s, No, the Vietnam War, No, the General Tire/RKO General broadcasting license scandal of the 1960’s and the 1970’s, No, the Watergate scandal with Richard Nixon’s involvement, No, the Southern Methodist University football bribery scandal of the 1980’s, No, the Pete Rose betting scandal in baseball of the late 1980’s, No, the Bernard Madoff ponzi schemes, No, the collapse and bankruptcy of Enron, Worldcom, Lehman Brothers, and the first incarnation of Hostess Brands, No. These are examples of what I feel that all of the bean counting and bloated fat cat broadcasters and the bean counting and bloated fat cat politicians are trying to do to attack cable and satellite providers to pressure them to carry stations with the use of the retransmission consent payment option.
I feel that all of the bean counting and bloated broadcasters and broadcasting groups including Sinclair with David Smith, Nexstar with Perry Sook, Gannett, Tribune, Young/Media General with George Mahoney, Bonten Media Group with Randall Bongerten, Cordillera, Pappas with Harry Pappas, Stainless/Northwest with Brian Brady, Mark Nalbone, and other too many to think of having the supreme dominance of forcing cable and satellite by the use of block booking in the cable industry by barring them from carrying out of market stations by only allowing them to carry their in market stations including cable systems being in markets where the in market stations is further than the out of market station that is closer to the cable system by air miles.
The retransmission consent law is the worst excuse for broadcasters act like the Tonya Harding’s and to self destruct like the first incarnation of Hostess Brands along with their decision to gamble and self destruct their business future themselves by failing to allow the MSOs to be able to carry their stations without forcing them to accept outrageous demands for the MSOs to carry the TV stations signals without any difficulties and without any interference.
People may not agree with my opinion and theory to retransmission consent buy my fear is that I feared the bean counting and bloated broadcasters and broadcasting groups may abuse and misuse the retransmission consent payment option to cable/satellite/Aereo as a way for all the bean counting and bloated head executives from those bean counting and bloated broadcasting companies to use it on their habit of carefree lavish spending to support their carefree greedy piggish selfish lavish lifestyles just to make all of them happy than trying to improve the quality of all the television stations they own and manage.
I’m for snapping and cracking down and cramping down to curb down on retransmission consent abuse and misuse.
My solutions and answers to end retransmission consent abuse and misuse is when a bean counting and bloated broadcaster pulls a station signal or multiple station signals off from any MSO 3 to 5 times within the last 5 to 10 years, fails to be very honest on how the bean counting and bloated broadcaster is suppose to be using the payments from the retransmission consent fees on what the broadcaster is paying for what the broadcasters are receiving from the MSO’s, fails to allow the MSO to restore the station signal or multiple station signals in time before the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Academy Awards, and other marque events on broadcast television is that the bean counting and bloated broadcaster can automatically receive the most stiffest and most severe penalty ever and suffer the death penalty in the television broadcasting industry meaning that the broadcaster can no longer exist and get to stay in business to continue ownership of TV stations and that the head of the broadcasting group can no longer be allowed to stay involved in the TV business as a way to curb down on retransmission consent abuse and misuse right now. The FCC would allow any minority broadcaster (African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Asian Islanders, Native Americans, Europeans, Austrians, Women, ETC.) to automatically took and take all total control of all affected TV stations from all retransmission consent disputes between the broadcasters and the MSO’s effectively without any interference and any difficulties whatsoever from the non-minority broadcasters.
My idea of a broadcasting group and a broadcaster getting FCC’s own version of the death penalty in the broadcasting business does very badly apply to David Smith, Barry Faber, and their colleagues at Sinclair Broadcasting Group meaning Sinclair Broadcasting Group can no longer exist and get to stay in business to continue ownership of TV stations with David Smith, Barry Faber, and their colleagues at Sinclair Broadcasting Group can no longer be allowed to stay involved in the TV business as a way to curb down on retransmission consent abuse and misuse right now.
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