The annual playoff cable flap
State rep steps in; Says there ought to be a law against shutting out sports viewers
BY JON CRAIG AND JOHN KIESEWETTER |
JCRAIG@ENQUIRER.COM AND
JKIESWETTER@ENQUIRER.COM
COLUMBUS - As football fans brace for less access to televised NFL and Ohio State Buckeye games, a Cincinnati-area lawmaker is calling for a timeout - including legal arbitration and penalties - in broadcast disputes between cable companies and TV sports networks.
State Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Colerain, introduced legislation Thursday that he says will protect Ohioans from losing out on television viewing options due to clashes between cable operators and programmers.
Blessing said he has received numerous calls asking him to investigate why TV audiences can't get access to some sporting events.
"With ... games on the NFL Network in only three weeks ... and the recent decision ... to place Saturday's Ohio State-Wisconsin game on the Big Ten Network, there is no time like the present to encourage cable operators and programmers to work together for the benefit of Ohio cable viewers," Blessing said.
A Bengals spokesman said his football team supports the bill. But a spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable cried foul over government intervention into private business negotiations.
Karen Baxter, public affairs director for Time Warner's southwestern Ohio division, said, "There is no proper basis to compel businesses to enter into agreements at all or on terms they don't accept voluntarily."
Time Warner, which serves about 640,000 customers in Southwest Ohio, is at an impasse in talks with the Big Ten Network, which has exclusive rights to televise Saturday's OSU-Wisconsin football game.
The BTN, which could charge Ohio cable operators as much as $1.30 a month per subscriber to carry its content, wants to be shown on expanded basic cable. The BTN charges cable companies in non-Big Ten states an average of 30 cents per month. Kentucky customers pay 10 cents a month.
Time Warner and Comcast have declined to fold the BTN's Ohio fee into their basic cable rate and say they don't want to pass that extra cost onto Ohio customers who aren't interested in BTN content.
Instead, the cable operators want to put the BTN on a premium-priced sports tier.
Titled the "Cable Anti-Discrimination and Dispute Resolution Act of 2007," House Bill 377 calls for a third party to help mediate any dispute when cable operators and programmers can't reach an agreement. It also can be applied to disagreements over news, public affairs, entertainment and other cable programs.
Blessing's bill proposes that arbitration agreements get filed with a Common Pleas Court and can result in monetary penalties if one side's conduct is unreasonable. The legislation also sets a specific timetable for settling cable programming disputes.
The NFL Network's 24-hour football programming is also unavailable on cable, and Bengals spokesman Bob Bedinghaus said the majority of Bengal fans living outside the Greater Cincinnati area probably will miss out on the NFL Network's broadcast of the Bengals-San Francisco 49ers game Dec. 15.
"Obviously we are supportive of the legislation," Bedinghaus said Thursday.
For the second year, WLWT-TV will simulcast the Bengals' NFL Network game, said Richard Dyer, Channel 5 president and general manager.
But Time Warner customers elsewhere in Ohio might not see it, Dyer said.
Insight Communications, the major cable operator throughout Northern Kentucky, provides both the BTN and the NFL Network.
DirectTV, DISH Network, Wide Open West and about 150 other cable companies have added the BTN to their expanded basic level of service without a price increase to consumers.
HOUSE BILL 377
House Bill 377 can be found on the internet at:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/b...?ID=127_HB_377