(!Congress of tue Wniteb~tates ~ouseof l\epresentatilJes wmtasbington, tlli/C 20515 July 27, 2010 The Honorable Julius Genachowski Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554 Dear Chairman Genachowski: On March 9, 2010, a diverse group of interests urged the Commission to reform and update the existing retransmission consent rules. The Commission recently concluded the comment period on this petition, with cable operators, satellite operators, telecommunications companies, independent programmers and public interest groups all filing in support of reform. We now urge the Commission to issue quickly a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Under the Commission's rules, and pursuant to tbe statutory provisions in the 1992 Cable Act, multichannel video programming distributors ("MVPDs") - principally cable, satellite, and telephone company video systems - and broadcasters are required to negotiate in good faith for the right to retransmit local broadcast signals. For many years, these negotiations were concluded smoothly. Increasingly, however, these negotiations are breaking down. Broadcasters claim they are not sufficiently compensated for their signals, and MVPDs claim they are trying to keep programming costs down. We have serious concerns with the harm these disputes are having on our constituents, who either lose access to broadcast programming or bear the increased costs of such programming in the form of more expensive bills from their pay-TV provider. Given the harm to consumers under the current system, and considering tbe significant marketplace developments since the retransmission consent regime was created in 1992, we believe tbat it is time for the Commission to reexamine its rules governing retransmission consent and act to protect consumers. We urge the Commission to issue quickly a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to protect consumer access to broadcast programming. We ask that you respond with the expected timing for when the Commission will initiate a proceeding on this issue. PRINTED ON RECYCLEO PAPER 1248 Sincerely, <5·~ Steve Israel Member ofCongress a~~ ~~lbioSires MEMBER OF CONGRESS ~t.~ Mel Watt MEMBER OF CONGRESS Jerrold Nadler ~CONG"',S.n<""'Colt' __- Nita Lowey MEMBER OF CONGRESS- &~--- &namTel Cleaver ~ Ed Perlmutter MEMBER OF CONGRESS '-f'~l\.1\cs~ Steve Rothman MEMBER OF CONGRESS Carolyn McCarthy MEMBER OF CONGRESS ~(WJ~ MEMBER OF CONGRESS uJl,tf Rush Holt ' MEMBER OF CONGRESS