Lawmakers should use the 2014 reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and LocalismnAct (STELA) as an opportunity to "fully examine the current video services marketplace and update specificnoutdated provisions of the 1992 Cable Act," said Independent Telephone and TelecommunicationsnAlliance President Genevieve Morelli in a news release Thursday. The comments addressed recent remarksnby House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who said he believednCongress will pass a "clean" reauthorization of the law (CD May 24 p3). Morelli said Walden should usen"any and all opportunities, including the STELA reauthorization process, to legislate policy that will reflectntoday’s video technology and marketplace," said the news release. In particular, Morelli said Congressnmust address the increasing prices that consumers pay for video content: "Each year, unbalancednretransmission consent negotiations increasingly subject consumers to possible blackout situations. Mostnof the resulting agreements are forced on video service providers by broadcasters who maintain all of thennegotiating leverage which represents a fundamental market failure. Ultimately, the result is higher videonrates to consumers that are necessary to cover the significant increases in retransmission consent fees imposednby broadcasters."
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