INTV urges FCC to keep fin-syn
Jim Hedlund, who heads the Assn. of Independent Television Stations, said the FCC "should not be bullied or intimidated by a single judge into throwing in the towel" on fin-syn.
Hedlund was referring to Judge Richard Posner, the Chicago appellate court judge who wrote a 3-0 opinion tossing out the FCC's April 1991 revisions to the financial interest and syndication rules that prevent the networks' unfettered entry into TV program production and syndication.
April 1 deadline
The FCC will vote April 1 on crafting new fin-syn rules that the agency hopes will win Posner's approval. Hedlund, speaking before a Federal Communications Bar Assn. luncheon, used the occasion to press for retention of most of the 1991 regs.
With pro-network FCC interim chairman James Quello sitting in the audience, Hedlund maintained that allowing the networks into firstrun syndication would "cripple much of the industry as we know it."
Hedlund said that through their major-market owned stations, the webs "control the time periods crucial to the life or death of most firstrun shows. Is there any question but that the networks' own shows would have first claim on these time periods?" he asked.
Turning his attention to the cable industry, Hedlund lashed out at Cablevision Systems topper Chuck Dolan for his decision to drop TV stations from cable outlets in the New York market in recent weeks. Hedlund called the Cablevision decision "appalling" and an action of "unparalleled arrogance."
The INTV chieftain also questioned whether broadcasters will indeed garner much money from cable operators through retransmission consent, the provision in the cable reregulation law that allows broadcasters to negotiate payments from cablers.
Hedlund claimed the cable operator will hold "all the leverage" in retrans negotiations since TV stations may not negotiate as a group. "In short, I fear that retransmission consent may just be the latest version of 'the check's in the mail,' " he said.
Hedlund also sounded an alarm against the call by public-interest groups urging an FCC crackdown against broadcasters who are not meeting the educational needs of children. "With a single revenue stream, commercial broadcasters cannot and should not be expected to mimic PBS," said Hedlund.
