The following may be attributed to an AT&T spokesperson:
“Today’s FCC ruling that the broadcast station groups’ behavior was a violation of its rules shows again that the entire retransmission consent process is broken and demands immediate reform. This was clearly one of the more egregious examples of how broadcasters routinely hold consumers hostage into paying higher and higher retrans fees, rather than being stewards of the public airwaves.
“The bad faith negotiations that caused these TV blackouts harmed the public and we agree with the FCC’s condemnation of these anti-consumer practices. If Congress does not renew STELAR this year, these broadcaster TV blackouts will increase in frequency, as the FCC will no longer be a backstop against such bad faith conduct from broadcasters.
“We have reached agreement with three of the nine broadcasters specifically involved in our complaint (Deerfield Media, GoCom Media of Illinois, and Second Generation of Iowa) and continue to push for progress with the others.”
