The following may be attributed to Tim McKone, AT&T Executive Vice President of Federal Relations:
“Congress today begins a reboot of the rules governing the video and television marketplace. With the bipartisan introduction of the Modern Television Act of 2019, Representatives Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) recognize that the nearly 30-year-old TV rules are harming consumers. Amid cord-cutting, growing video options and internet-based platforms, broadcasters use their special protections in current law to continue to demand price increases from the customers of cable and satellite distributors for TV programming that consumers watch less and less. Unfortunately, the result of this broken system is an alarming number of TV blackouts, with over 200 TV blackouts across the country so far this year.”