Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C

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1 Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C In the Matter of ) ) Applications of Charter Communications, Inc., ) Time Warner Cable Inc., and ) MB Docket No Advance/Newhouse Partnership for Consent ) to the Transfer of Control of Cable Television ) Service Applications. ) COMMENTS OF THE PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL The Parents Television Council ( PTC ) is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing millions of concerned citizens, parents and families who join in a mission to protect children from the graphic sex, violence and profanity that is so pervasive in today s entertainment media. Our vision is to provide a safe and sound entertainment media environment for children and families across America, and we submit the following comment in the above proceeding. The Commission is the arbiter of whether proposed mergers and acquisitions, such as the business arrangement at issue here, serve the public interest. There are of course many elements to consider and weigh in a transaction that changes the media landscape as much as Charter s proposed acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, which will combine to provide service availability in approximately 17 million households located in many of the top DMAs across the country. One of the consequences of this proposed business transaction is the significant increase in leverage the combined entity would have in negotiations with media companies for carriage agreements. It is in this realm the Commission should consider the impact such increased leverage will have on the public interest. We specifically ask that the FCC carefully consider whether the proposed merger will: (1) provide consumers with greater choice and control over the programming they receive and pay for; and (2) protect the ability of smaller, independent, family-friendly programmers to serve the unique needs of parents and families. 1

2 1. Greater choice and control for consumers The PTC was a very vocal and staunch opponent of the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC). Both Comcast and TWC owned interests in Hollywood studios, broadcast and cable television networks, cable distribution systems, online entertainment programming and distribution; and other linear/digital entertainment media platforms. Based upon the demonstrated behavior and comments of Comcast, we felt strongly that its acquisition of TWC would have hurt consumers, and would have especially hurt families, rather than serve the public interest. We do not hold such concerning views about Charter s acquisition of TWC, though we do call on the FCC to carefully consider whether some reasonable conditions on the transaction might be warranted. Charter has, for a number of years, demonstrated strong support for cable subscribers to have greater control over the network programming they receive and pay for. And for Charter s position on that issue, we are both grateful and heartened. However, and quite contrary to the position of Charter, TWC has fought against any efforts for greater consumer control in the federal and state courts, in the Congress and at the FCC. While we would hope that Charter s position on this issue ultimately prevails in the combined corporate entity, we call on the FCC to ensure that the proposed merger serves the public interest by providing consumers with greater choice and control over the programming they receive and pay for. 2. Protect the ability of smaller, independent, family-friendly programmers to serve the unique needs of parents and families. With so few programmers serving the viewing needs of families, and with those few programmers mostly being smaller and independently-owned companies; we are greatly concerned that a merger of Charter and TWC would put into motion events that could unfairly trap family programmers in the MVPD merger crossfire. Among the small, independent, familyfriendly programmers to which we refer are: ASPiRE; Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries; INSP; Ovation; RFD-TV; UP; and a few others. Each of the major MVPD companies carries some number of the small, independent, family-friendly programmers referenced above. But experience has shown that cable networks owned by the largest industry conglomerates receive inordinate subscriber fee revenues and more 2

3 favorable carriage terms compared to similarly-viewed independent cable networks simply because of the conglomerates unfair economic leverage. The effect of their economic leverage is often to squeeze-out the smaller, independent networks from carriage. It would not serve the public interest to authorize a merger that could effectively pull the plug on channels that provide positive, wholesome family content and faith-friendly entertainment to the millions of viewers who risk losing the very few safe havens that are out there. To prevent such an outcome, the Commission should closely examine how it can apply public interest conditions to this proposed transaction to increase, rather than potentially decrease, consumer options for family appropriate television. One such reasonable requirement for Charter s proposed acquisitions of Time Warner and Bright House might be a condition that at a minimum maintains existing carriage of these family-friendly networks for at least five years post-merger, thereby ensuring increased availability of family-friendly programming. A 2014 Nielsen study commissioned by UP of U.S. TV viewers found that there are 42 million adults ages who seek family friendly programming; however, only a handful of networks provide programming that consistently reflects the core values of these 42 million Americans [Nielsen Content; UP Family TV Segmentation Study 2014; N=5000 Internet Survey of P18-54 in CablePlus Homes]. And those few networks are all independent networks likely to bear the greatest potential risk from the increased power that a combined Charter/Time Warner/Brighthouse will most certainly have in the marketplace. Today a vast and growing proportion of prime time television shows are rated as inappropriate for family viewing. Aside from networks that program specifically for small children, there is a dearth of basic and expanded-basic programming that is rated TV-G or TV- PG. Content rated TV-14 has taken on greater degrees of adult-oriented descriptions, depictions and themes than ever before. And increasingly explicit even pornographic content that once was provided only on premium network tiers has become the nightly norm on the basic and expanded basic cable tier. This is particularly true for programmers that are owned or controlled by the several industry behemoths: Comcast/NBC-Universal; Walt Disney/ABC; 21 st Century Fox/News Corporation; Viacom/CBS; Time-Warner; A&E Networks; and Discovery Communications. 3

4 We offer the following examples of program content from the aforementioned conglomerate-owned cable networks which, at one time or another, held themselves out as offering family-quality viewing: The Discovery-owned TLC Network, once called The Learning Channel, airs primetime programs such as Sex in Public, Sex Sent Me to the ER, and Buying Naked. Each of these programs was rated as appropriate for viewing by children as young as fourteen. A&E, once called Arts & Entertainment, aired a program this past season called Neighbors with Benefits, the entire theme of which featured spouse-swapping. The program was rated as appropriate for viewing by children as young as fourteen. FYI, once called the Biography Network, aired a program this past season called Seven Year Switch, the entire theme of which featured spouse-swapping. The program was rated as appropriate for viewing by children as young as fourteen. CBS-controlled Pop, once called the TV Guide Channel, airs a program called Schitt s Creek. The program is rated as appropriate for viewing by children as young as fourteen. WE-tv, once known as Romance Classics, aired a program this past season called Sex Box, and featured couples having sexual intercourse on stage in an opaque, soundproof box and then emerging to discuss the encounter with a panel of experts. The program was rates as appropriate for viewing by children as young as fourteen. VH1, once known for playing popular music videos, airs a program called Dating Naked. The program features several couples meeting and dating in the nude, with explicit sexual dialogue and only the genital areas pixilated or blurred. The program is rated as appropriate for viewing by children as young as fourteen. AMC, once called American Movie Classics, has aired several seasons of The Walking Dead, which is one of the most graphically-violent programs in the history of television. Cartoon Network, which programs for children during parts of the day, shifts its programming to Adult Swim and its explicit animated programming at 9pm Eastern Time. A child watching age-appropriate cartoons on Cartoon Network will suddenly 4

5 be watching age-inappropriate content on Adult Swim with only the tick of a clock, rather than the pressing of a channel button on the TV remote control. Children s programmer Nickelodeon aired a program called Glenn Martin DDS, featuring explicit content such as stripper pole-dancing. The program was rated as appropriate for viewing by children as young as fourteen. The FX Network has aired increasingly-pornographic material on this 21 st Century Fox-owned expanded-basic cable network. Explicit violence and graphic sexual content airs routinely, including a recent scene with the drill-bit dildo. FX program Archer includes explicit animated content, and animated programming is inherently attractive to children. Matt Thompson, the creator of Archer, was recently quoted touting the pornography on his show: Us getting away with the amount of sex we got away with in that episode where Archer is having sex with Lana from behind, and Lana s breasts are jiggling all over, was great I thought, Yeah! It s cartoon porn! F**k off! It s great! I hope it s cartoon porn. If you can get away with it, do it. TV Land, which built an audience on 1960 s classic television programming, is set to air a program later this season called Teachers. The promotion for Teachers includes dialogue about anal bleaching. The above list of content examples material airing on the conglomerate-owned cable networks that, at one point, were marketed as family-oriented networks is sadly illustrative and not exhaustive. Even the ABC Family Channel has recently rebranded and now is called Freeform to cater to a different audience other than the teenagers who watched ABC Family. Conclusion There are but a handful of cable programmers that truly serve the needs of children and families. Those programmers are small, independently-owned companies; and every day they face competing, conglomerate-owned networks on an uneven playing field. We urge the FCC to fulfill its public interest mandate by ensuring that there is a level playing field to safeguard the continued viability of these burgeoning, independent family programmers. For the reasons outlined above, we respectfully ask that the FCC carefully consider reasonable conditions on the proposed merger that will: (1) provide consumers with greater 5

6 choice and control over the programming they receive and pay for; and (2) protect the ability of smaller, independent, family-friendly programmers to serve the unique needs of parents and families. Respectfully submitted, PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL By: Timothy F. Winter President 707 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 2075 Los Angeles, CA