At least the National Cable & Telecommunications Association isn’t looking to freeze retransmission negotiations for half a year as is another national cable organization. But it still wants double the window NAB has offered. It’s proposing a quiet period running from 12/31/08 through 3/1/09. An organization representing smaller cable operators, the American Cable Association, had earlier proposed the same start date but would like the quiet period to run until 6/1/09. NAB has suggested a quiet period beginning two weeks before and running until two weeks after 2/17/09.
RBR/TVBR observation: The cable organizations say they’re worried about consumer confusion. We think the confusion factor is highly over-rated, and that cable would simply like to avoid negotiations for as long as possible. At least NCTA’s proposal is more realistic than ACA’s.
