Media Coverage
Source: Communications Daily
Media Coverage
03.13.13
Time Warner Cable and CBS have agreed to an extension to settle a retransmission consent dispute. However, if an agreement is not reached, viewers in key markets such as Los Angeles, New York and Boston will not be able to access CBS, Showtime or any of the network’s other channels.
Scott Flick, a communications partner in Pillsbury’s Washington D.C. office, commented that a deadline extension shows “the parties are working to try to reach a resolution without causing a viewing disruption.”
Flick noted that while the Federal Communications Commission could revisit its stance on retransmission consent, “it will be a very uphill battle to step in in a more concrete manner unless it involves good faith negotiations or just the bully pulpit of encouraging the parties to reach a timely resolution of it.”
In another interview with Communications Daily, Flick said that even if we might not know what the FCC thinks it is capable of doing, neither party probably wants to find out. However, “I don’t see either party wanting to avoid it so badly that they would give in to any offer that was coming from the other side.”