For Immediate Release
Contact: Ted Hearn
(202) 713-0826
[email protected]
PITTSBURGH, June 4, 2019 — ACA Connects President and CEO Matthew M. Polka issued the following statement in support of C Spire’s retransmission consent complaint alleging lack of good faith by Gray Television Group Inc.:
“It’s outrageous that corporate executives at the CBS network are keeping a CBS-affiliated television station from a local cable operator even though both the operator and the station operate in the same local Mississippi television market. By forcing the citizens of Diamondhead to watch a CBS affiliate in New Orleans instead, CBS is blocking access to local news and programming for a small rural Mississippi community.
“The Good Faith Complaint and Petition for Declaratory Ruling filed June 3 by ACA Connects member C Spire against Gray Television cuts to the heart of a problem that ACA Connects has long raised – third-party interference in retransmission consent negotiations.
“The Federal Communications Commission should act quickly on this filing, and Congress must consider this problem along with others, when considering retransmission consent reforms as part of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization Act of 2014 (STELAR) reauthorization this year.”
About ACA Connects: America’s Communications Association – Based in Pittsburgh, ACA Connects is a trade organization representing more than 700 smaller and medium-sized, independent companies that provide broadband, phone and video services to nearly 8 million customers primarily located in rural and smaller suburban markets across America. Through active participation in the regulatory and legislative process in Washington, D.C., ACA Connects’ members work together to advance the interests of their customers and ensure the future competitiveness and viability of their business. For more information, visit: https://acaconnects.org