With the proliferation of broadband-delivered media platforms, we are seeing renewed convergence among once-separate media and telecommunications companies. Correspondingly, regulatory agencies are reviewing media and telecommunications mergers with an eye toward the effect of consolidation.
These merger reviews by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice have customarily focused on divestitures that reflect an historic emphasis on intramarket competition for local advertising; there is now an additional potential emphasis on in-market competition for retransmission fees paid by multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs). At the same time, the market pressures propelling MVPD consolidation—as well as technological developments in over-the-top delivery and resulting cord-cutting—raise the potential for downward pricing pressure on retransmission fees and other programming fees paid by MVPDs.