FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal Will Serve People of Color with Proper Safeguards, Says NHMC

For Immediate Release: May 24, 2016 Contact: Christina DiPasquale, 202.716.1953, christina@balestramedia.com

FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal Will Serve People of Color with Proper Safeguards, Says National Hispanic Media Coalition

The comment period has recently ended on the Federal Communications Commission's set-top box proposal, concluding the first stage of an extensive process designed to build a record replete with research, analysis, and input from interested stakeholders and consumers over the course of several months. Said Jessica J. González, executive vice president and general counsel at the National Hispanic Media Coalition: “The vast majority of programmers of color have not been able to gain carriage with cable and satellite providers and meanwhile audiences of color are left searching for culturally relevant content online. The FCC’s set-top box proceeding provides an opportunity to break down barriers to entry for these programmers of color to gain a foothold in the market. Historically underserved groups are tired of the decades of waiting. We urge the FCC to take action in the prudent timeline it has laid out. We ask the FCC to enact cable box reform that will protect the few existing cable and satellite programmers of color while also opening the door for so many more to be recognized and touch audiences across the country." The National Hispanic Media Coalition recommends that the FCC take the following actions to save consumers from excessive equipment rental fees, provide consumer choice and protect the few existing cable and satellite programmers of color while opening doors for the many programmers of color that cable and satellite providers do not carry:

• To reduce cost, provide choice, and open opportunities for emerging programmers of color to access a larger audience through over-the-top programming, the FCC should certify third-party device and/or application makers to provide access to MVPD and over-the-top content; require MVPDs to provide their programming over such devices and/or applications; and prevent MVPDs from charging their customers additional fees for using third-party devices and/or applications.
• To preserve the bargained-for channel placement of the few existing cable programmers of color, the FCC should ensure that third-party providers allow consumers to access the same MVPD program channel line-up that consumers see through MVPD set-top boxes.
• To protect the advertising revenues of existing cable programmers of color, the FCC should prevent third-party providers from stripping out cable and broadcast television advertising content and replacing it with their own advertisements.

For interviews, please contact: Christina DiPasquale at 202.716.1953 or christina@balestramedia.com.]]>