Iowa attorney general to FCC: Don’t let Sinclair yank its stations

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller wants federal regulators to prevent the Sinclair Broadcast Group from pulling its television stations off Mediacom's cable network until a Mediacom complaint against Sinclair is investigated.

Miller, the latest of many politicians to weigh in on the retransmission dispute, was more specific in his request to the FCC than most. He said the FCC should exercise its authority to grant “interim carriage rights” to Mediacom of the Sinclair television stations until it considers Mediacom's complaint.

Bob Brammer, a spokesman for Miller's office, said “we're trying to play a mediator role.”

“We don't think they're too far apart. We hope and think they can negotiate an agreement that works for everybody.”

Mediacom filed the complaint in October after months of negotiations with Sinclair failed to bring much movement toward agreements on retransmission fees for 22 stations in 12 states, including Sinclair-owned KGAN-CBS 2 and Sinclair-managed KFXA-FOX 28 in Cedar Rapids.

Mediacom claims that Sinclair has failed to exercise good-faith bargaining for retransmission rights as required by federal regulations. It says Sinclair's control of KFXA gives it an effective “duopoly,” or concentration of two stations in the same market, that gives it unlawful bargaining power. Sinclair claims that it has offered to let Mediacom negotiate with KFXA's actual owner, Second Generation of Iowa, and rejects the duopoly claim.

If the dispute is unresolved by midnight tomorrow night, Sinclair has said it will pull its signals from Mediacom's network. That would jeopardize the access of many KFXA viewers to the 2010 Orange Bowl on Jan. 5, which is important to University of Iowa Hawkeye fans wanting to see the team's performance against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Sinclair General Counsel Barry Faber was not available for comment. Mediacom spokeswoman Phyllis Peters said Mediacom continued to make proposals to Sinclair Wednesday, but was frustrated by the lack of movement on Sinclair's part.

The FCC has shown an interest in the progress of the talks, Peters said, acknowledging that it had so far not acted despite many appeals from Mediacom and its allies.