Audio Video News

An arcane loophole that allowed some cable operators to withhold local sports from other video providers has been closed by a 4-1 vote of the Federal Communications Commission.

Under the "terrestrial loophole," cable operators could prevent a local sporting event from appearing on a satellite or telco TV system as long as the signal was carried by the cable op's own wired infrastructure. If the signal was carried by satellite, the loophole did not apply. Now it doesn't matter how the signal is carried--any video provider can pay to access it and provide it to viewers.

The action follows years of complaints by DirecTV and the Dish Network, recently firmed up by further complaints from Verizon and AT&T's new video operations. Said new FCC chair Julius Genachowski: "The loophole gives free rein to cable-TV operators to lock up local sports events and other popular programming and withhold them from rival providers. Consumers who want to switch video providers shouldn't have to give up their favorite team."

See TWICE and news.com.