The National Association of Broadcasters, the trade group that represents the TV broadcasting industry, is urging the FCC to suspend its review of Charter Communications' proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The NAB said the FCC should delay its review of the deal while it completes "the long-delayed 2010 and 2014 quadrennial reviews of broadcast ownership rules," NAB said.
NAB's stance once again puts the TV broadcasting industry in opposition to the pay-TV industry. The NAB argued that the rapidly consolidating pay-TV industry "has put local TV stations at a competitive disadvantage and outdated ownership rules have prevented broadcasters from achieving the economies of scale and scope that MVPDs enjoy."
"That industry will only become more concentrated through the proposed merger to combine the fourth, seventh and tenth largest MVPDs in the country," NAB wrote in its complaint to the FCC. "For example, if the pending merger is approved, then the top four MVPDs will control 79 percent of the nationwide MVPD market, measured in terms of subscribers, and the top three alone, according to SNL Kagan." Release and FCC filing