Local media curbed by parental dispute
What does Eureka’s TV market have in common with Tulsa, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; Spokane, Washington; Greenville- Greenwood, Missouri; and Alexandria, Louisiana?
According to a media release from Cox Media Group, the owners of two broadcast network stations here in Eureka’s TV market they are in negotiations with cable operator Altice/Suddenlink in those markets too. The dispute between the two parent companies — Altice/Suddenlink and Cox Media Group — is playing out in those communities as well. According to Cox Media Group, Altice/ Suddenlink’s move to pull their channels is “anti-consumer” and Cox Media Group calls for their viewers to complain to Suddenlink: https://kiem-tv. com/suddenlink- dispute/.
Meanwhile, Suddenlink (Altice) has posted a website that frames the dispute from their perspective: https://www. suddenlink.com/onyourside. And viewers who try to find the stations instead find a referral to that website and are directed to call Congress for industry relief: https://contact. americantelevisionalliance. org/ctas/take- action-writecongress.
Access Humboldt works to promote, support and develop local media to serve local needs for public health and safety; education, economic and community development; culture and arts, and civic engagement. So we are deeply concerned by the loss of local TV carriage over the local cable TV system — this disconnect highlights the gaps in our communications systems and decline of our information ecosystem.
Part of our advocacy work includes opposition to consolidated absentee ownership of media and communication networks. That is why years ago, along with the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County and our county Board of Supervisors, Access Humboldt formally objected to Altice’s acquisition of Suddenlink to no effect. One of the consolidation impacts that concerns us is the erosion of must- carry protections that historically ensured that local cable systems would carry local broadcast TV stations.
Under must- carry rules, local broadcast TV licensees are entitled to free carriage for their station on local cable TV systems. TV licensees, in this case Cox Media Group must waive their right to free carriage in order to negotiate a price that they require the cable operator (Altice/Suddenlink) to pay them for the privilege of retransmission.
Ever since our local TV stations were acquired by absentee owners, local cable consumers have seen the “local broadcast fee” on their cable bills growing and growing. My neighbor’s Suddenlink cable bill includes a charge over $30 per month that supposedly funds the cable operator’s largesse to “local” TV stations.
As these two absentee owners of our local media infrastructure negotiate their profit sharing, the local community suffers a loss of local news and information — not to mention premium sports programming! We encourage local folks to reach out to Representative Jared Huffman’s office and let him know that you support his legislation to protect and preserve media localism and roll back the consolidation of media under absentee owners.
Sean Taketa McLaughlin is executive director of Access Humboldt. Access Humboldt is a non-profit, community media & broadband access organization serving the residents and local jurisdictions of Humboldt County on the North Coast of California USA, managing resources that include: cable access TV channels; KZZH FM 96.7 community radio; a Community Media Archive collection; a wide area broadband network with dedicated optic fiber connections to twenty locations serving local jurisdictions and community anchor institutions; broadband access wireless networks; a Community Media Center with studio and other production equipment and training on the Eureka High School campus; and ongoing operational support for public, educational and governmental access media services.