STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN
Re:  Leased Commercial Access; Development of Competition and Diversity in Video 
Programming Distribution and Carriage; Revision of the Commission’s Program 
Carriage Rules, Second Report and Order in MB Docket No. 07-42 and Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking in MB Docket No. 11-131
I am pleased that the Commission is moving forward with improvements to our 
program carriage rules. We have heard, from Members of Congress and independent 
programmers, that clarity is needed for a more transparent process, and I hope that the 
issues we raise in our NPRM and the decisions we reach in our Order are productive 
steps in that direction.
Our complaint process has been called slow, impractical, and unfair, and the 
deadlines we establish for the FCC’s Media Bureau and Administrative Law Judges when 
acting on program carriage complaints will offer a greater element of predictability to 
programmers and operators awaiting a decision. Further, in solidifying what a 
complaining party must demonstrate when claiming a carriage violation has occurred, the 
Commission is seeking to make our evidentiary process clearer and more cogent.
I look forward to the feedback that will result from the language in our NPRM, as 
the issues we raise regarding potential damages, retaliation, and the timing for the filing 
of a program carriage complaint are of paramount importance in laying out a roadmap for 
independent programmers and their expectations via our framework. Greater certainty 
and broad clarification has been needed for some time, and I am glad that we are on our 
way to providing it.