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Brown claiming credit for what really has been a long term Kerry action. [View all]
I was surprised with this article speaking of Brown and Kerry working to insure that New Englanders can get superbowl coverage on their cable and direct TV sources. Kerry seems to have done this every year since 2008. He also is the Chair of the Commerce committee's sub committee and has been involved in trying to get the companies to work this out without hurting people who want to see the game. Not to mention, he has contacts in the FCC - and Brown doesn't.
Yet, here is how the article is written:
Sens. Brown, Kerry intercede in DirecTV-Sunbeam dispute
January 23, 2012 — 11:42am ET | By Steve Donohue
While it's unlikely that Sunbeam Television would take the chance of blocking DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) subscribers from watching the feed of Super Bowl 46 on its NBC affiliate in Boston, Massachusetts Senators Scott Brown and John Kerry aren't taking any chances. With the New England Patriots set to play the New York Giants in the Feb. 5 championship game, the legislators are attempting to force the companies to settle the retransmission-consent dispute that has left Boston viewers without the feeds for Sunbeam's NBC affiliate WHDH-TV and The CW affiliate WLVI-TV since Jan. 13.
"I am concerned that my constituents in Boston have become leverage in a business negotiation," Sen. Brown wrote in a letter to DirecTV CEO Mike White and Sunbeam Television president Edmund Ansin on Friday. "It is outrageous that subscribers would pay hundreds of dollars a year for service and not get to watch
Read more: Sens. Brown, Kerry intercede in DirecTV-Sunbeam dispute - FierceCable http://www.fiercecable.com/story/sens-brown-kerry-intercede-directv-sunbeam-dispute/2012-01-23#ixzz1kItBsy7A
This may be because Brown's letter was written by him and him alone.
http://www.fiercecable.com/press-releases/brown-calls-directv-sunbeam-let-bostonians-watch-nbc-cw
The real industry source speaks of Kerry.
While most retrans deals in the latest round have been done without blackouts, the Sunbeam-DirecTV impasse has drawn a letter from Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to the FCC, asking it to step in, and while it is at it, complete the retrans rulemaking prompted partly by earlier, high-profile blackouts that drew congressional attention.
<snip>
Kerry pointed out that it was the third year in a row he has contacted the FCC about a retrans dispute, and urged it to complete its pending rulemaking on retrans reform.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/479368-Kerry_Pushes_FCC_to_Step_Into_DirecTV_Sunbeam_Dispute.php
Now, I don't think this is a big issue - and it is clear that Kerry is working from a knowledge of the past, policy and the players involved - and Brown is grandstanding. I hope that some point he is called on his grandstanding on more important issues - like when he lists - as bills that passed because of him - DADT and the ratification of the START treaty. In fact, I think that only Dodd/Frank passed with Brown and just 60 votes - and that was when he demanded the banks get a $19 billion gift.
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