[opendtv] A U.S. TV tax to support local broadcasters?
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:06:03 -0500
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6423671.html?display=Breaking+News
Willner Calls for Tax to Aid TV Stations
By Ted Hearn3/12/2007 10:23:00 PM
Washington -- A federal tax designed to subsidize local TV stations
should replace the current system that allows TV stations to help
their finances by demanding cash for carriage from cable operators,
Insight Communications CEO Michael Willner (pictured) said Monday.
Willner said his TV tax proposal would ensure a second revenue stream
for broadcasters while relieving cable operators from having to pay
for programming that is offered to the public free-of-charge.
"Set up a way of collecting a tax. If you want people to pay for
broadcasting, collect it from everybody evenly. They do it in
Britain," said Willner, a panelist at the annual Cable Television
Public Affairs Association Forum 2007 here.
Insight is the ninth-largest U.S-based cable operator, with 1.3
million subscribers, mostly in the Midwest.
In recent years, TV-station groups have become more aggressive in
using their legal right to withhold their signals to demand cash
payments. Recent examples include Sinclair Broadcast Group's three
month standoff with cable operator Mediacom Communications.
Willner indicated that the TV tax would fund a federal royalty pool,
similar to the one used to compensate sports leagues and Hollywood
studios.
"This would be in lieu of retransmission consent, and all
broadcasters would share in the pool," said Willner, who didn't
suggest the size of the tax. "We'll collect it. We don't care -- but
as long as everybody gets [taxed] equally."
National Association of Broadcasters executive vice president of
communications Dennis Wharton called the proposal "laughable" and
said the "NAB isn't interested in raising taxes on American citizens."
The tax would alter a regulatory mandate that works to the
disadvantage of cable companies, including the requirement that every
cable subscriber must purchase the program package that includes
local TV signals, Willner said.
"The reality is, the system is broken," he added. "It really doesn't
work because what it's doing is charging certain parts of the
population to watch over-the-air television while it doesn't charge
other parts of the population."
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