D.C. Memo: CTA’s Shapiro Fires Back at ‘Rent Seeking’ TV Station Owners

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ATSC 3.0: Consumer Technology Association CEO and Vice Chair Gary Shapiro took to LinkedIn yesterday to vent about TV station owners like Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Inc. A few days ago, the Pearl TV consortium that includes the two TV station giants rattled CTA’s cage with an incendiary charge: CTA is fighting a NextGen TV tuner mandate from the FCC to protect the profits of members vertically integrated with FAST channels embedded in Smart TVs. “I can honestly say that not once have I heard any CTA member raise this as a reason to oppose a mandate,” Shapiro said. “We oppose mandates because they hurt American consumers by forcing them to buy something they don’t want.” Shapiro slammed TV station owners for failing to promote NextGen TV. “Where’s the marketing blitz? How much prime time advertising have they done on ATSC 3.0?” he said. The FCC, he said, should not yield on an issue that imposes large cost on TV set makers but not on TV station owners. “That’s not innovation – it's rent-seeking,” he said. (More after paywall.)