Federal regulations prevent Cable One in Joplin from shopping for an NBC or an ABC station from a different city (perhaps Tulsa or Springfield or Kansas City) and those regulations are putting cable companies at a disadvantage, one cable executive said at the recent American Cable Association meeting in Washington.
Jerald L. Kent, CEO of Cebridge Communications, which owns the cable system in Neosho, said the rule is having a particularly negative effect on cable franchises serving rural areas, according to an article in the May 16 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Cebridge is the 11th largest cable distributor in the United States.
Kent indicated that the effects could be disastrous for cable companies. He said that the broadcast stations lose only a minimal number of viewers, but for the cable company whose customers "might not get to see a local newscast or catch the latest episode of a favorite program, the effects could be devastating."
Kent continued, "If nothing is done, it's going to get ugly, and the American people are going to look for someone to blame. Hopefully, it won't be us." The article indicated that the American Cable Association has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to allow cable companies to shop for other network affiliates.
"Let us shop for alternatives, just like our customers are allowed to do," Kent said, according to the Post-Dispatch article.