Compass Lexecon Expert Supports Successful Effort to Eliminate Ban on Exclusive Distribution of Cable-Affiliated Networks

On October 5, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Report and Order sunsetting the ban on exclusive contracts involving cable-affiliated programming networks, which had been in place since 1992. During the FCC’s proceedings on this topic, Compass Lexecon expert Mark Israel submitted a Declaration, on behalf of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), in support of the decision to let the ban lapse. Israel argued that, although such a blanket ban on exclusive contracts involving cable-affiliated networks may have been justified when the market was less competitive, in today’s environment with multiple satellite and telephone options for video service in most areas, such a blanket ban is not only no longer necessary but likely anti-competitive. Israel’s Declaration was cited multiple times in the FCC’s Report and Order allowing the ban to lapse. Israel was supported in his work by a Compass Lexecon team led by Theresa Sullivan including Bryan Keating, Paolo Ramezzana, and Jeff Tucker. The Compass Lexecon team worked closely with Rick Chessen, Senior Vice President at NCTA, other NCTA representatives, and James Casserly and other attorneys at Willkie Farr.