Just ANother Tuesday - July 24, 2012

Today may shake out to be interesting or just the same old same old.

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing to review the Cable Act of 1992.  Throughout its history the act has caused controversy and problems for broadcasters, cable and satellite vendors, and consumers.

One area that will be discussed at length will be retransmission consent.  This part of the act allows broadcasters and content providers to charge cable systems for their copyrighted content.  In recent weeks stations from Hearst Television have been removed due to failed negotiations with Time Warner Cable (TWC). 

TWC countered the removal of Hearst stations by importing distant signals from other contracted broadcasters to TWC systems.  Gray Broadcasting sought injunctive relief because TWC did not provide the appropriate notice to the broadcaster and subscribes on the change.  The Cable Act requires 30 days notice for any channel lineup change. Before any court hearings, TWC and Hearst resolved their differences and Hearst stations were returned to affected cable systems.

There has been no word if Grey Broadcasting will pursue the notice violatiom with the FCC.

There have also been carriage disputes between satellite providers and content distributors.  While the dispute between Dish Network and Viacom has been resolved,  Direct TV and AMC Networks are still at an impasse with no negotiations scheduled.

While retransmission consent and carriage issues will highlight the hearing other issues such as program access will make an appearance.

Witnesses will include cable and sateliitle providers, content providers and networks and the National Association of Broadcasters.

The hearing will be sired live on one of the C-SPAN channels and streamed live on it website.

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The NBC Olumpics unity and the London Olympic Committee are teaming up to create the first Oluympic event Twitter page.

The page will be an aggregate a variety of Olympic related pages.  NBC, the US Olympic Committee, and the London organizing committe will work together to create a destination page for the 17 day event. Twitter will senbd represenatives to assist NBC in this venture.

The Opening Ceremonies begin Friday, July 27.
More from Broadcasting & Cable

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A prominent Senate democrat believes recent intelligence leaks originated in the White House.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday that someone at the White House is responsible. Feinstein does not believe the President leaked the information, but someone on his National Security Team or campaign is responsible.

“I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks,” Feinstein said in an address at the World Affairs Council.
 
More from The Hill

FInally, the DOJ has advised Pennsylvania officials it is looking into the state's Voter ID Law.

Pennsylvania is one on 11 states to pass voter ID laws since 2010.  PA's law is patterned after the Indiana law which was upheld in a 2008 Supreme Court decision.

That's it for now.