BOCA RATON, FLA. — Get your boxing gloves on, broadcasters.
A bruising battle pitting cable TV companies and DBS providers against the owners of UHF and VHF TV stations across the U.S. is percolating, and the American Cable Association (ACA) — with support from the American Television Alliance (ATVA) — is striking back at a coalition of local broadcasters, community advocates, network television affiliate associations, multicast networks, manufacturers and other independent broadcaster-related organizations who “believe that all pay-TV service providers should be held accountable for stifling innovation and repeatedly using their own customers as bargaining chips while increasing their record profits.”
In response to efforts led by TVFreedom.org, the ACA has launched a “TV Ransom” campaign. It’s described by ATVA as “a new national education effort from the ACA to highlight abusive broadcast industry behavior that harms consumers.”
