Cap issue remains
B'caster works to deny NAB support for networks
Network reps had hoped that they would emerge from the board meeting in Naples, Fla., with a vote that would have at least supported a "neutral" stance by the NAB when it comes to raising the national caps from the current 35% audience reach.
But Cosmos Broadcasting president and NAB board member Jim Keelor has spent the last several days lobbying his fellow board members against the networks' proposal to end the broadcasting industry's leading trade group's support for the 35% cap.
Keelor's campaign
Keelor began his campaign against relaxation of the national ownership cap after ABC demanded to renegotiate the compensation package for WWAY -- ABC's affil in Wilmington, N.C. Keelor's company Cosmos Broadcasting is the new owner of the station and was forced into last-minute negotiations with the Alphabet web, just as the deal was closing.
According to several sources, networks often renegotiate affiliate deals when a station changes hands, but Keelor says ABC's demands demonstrated that the networks have the ability to "extort compensation reductions" every time a station changes hands.
It will be payback time for ABC this weekend when the affiliate members of the NAB board are likely to shoot down the net-work's request for support from the trade group's powerful lobbying arm to a relaxed ownership cap. "If we do the right thing, the cap will remain where it is," said Keelor, who added, "The networks have an economic stranglehold over the affils as it is."
Price may be paid
Several sources said ABC, and the other major networks for that matter, will all pay the price for the Alphabet web's decision to renegotiate a deal for a station in the 155th largest market in the country.
There seemed to be room for a compromise because several large station groups want the networks to support Local Marketing Agreements and changes to current law to allow broadcasters to own more than one station in a market. One network source noted that it's going to be difficult for the NAB to argue in Congress for deregulation of LMAs while continuing to campaign against national audience caps.
Washington lobbyists for both affils and the networks would like their broadcasting clients to find some compromise to create a unified position because Congress may soon provide a vehicle for relaxed ownership rules during the debate over changes to the Satellite Home Viewers Act. The satcasting legislation is on the fast track in Congress because several members want to change the current law to allow Echostar to begin offering a package of programming that includes local channels.
Broadcasters are optimistic that they can leverage their support for the satcasting bill for greater ownership relaxation. But both networks and affils agree that in order to win ownership deregulation, they must first reach a truce so that they are not lobbying against each other.
