Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL O’RIELLY

Re: 	Cable Service Change Notifications, MB Docket No. 19-347; Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative, MB Docket No. 17-105; Amendment of the Commission’s Rules Related to Retransmission Consent, MB Docket No. 10-71.

As is our great monthly custom for this Commission, we consider another important way to update our media regulations by acknowledging the reality that retransmission consent negotiations often continue well within the 30-day window contemplated by the existing rules at issue.  Specifically, this item proposes to rightfully remove an FCC-mandate for traditional video providers that doesn’t match up with real world practices.  Appropriately, the item takes care to ask numerous questions about consumer costs and benefits as well, to ensure that we do not take steps that would confuse consumers or require certain businesses to make announcements about hypothetical outcomes prematurely.  I recognize that in the retrans arena, even the slightest changes can have an impact on the bargaining power of one entity over another, so we proceed judiciously.     

	At the same time, these debates continually highlight the need for wholesale reform.  If we confine every debate to the existing regulatory silos, we can easily miss the bigger picture, which reveals the existential threat that traditional broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD) alike face from virtually unregulated over-the-top and streaming video providers.  This, of course, does not mean we should neglect our effort to reform existing regulations; quite the contrary.  We should boldly advance more aggressive reforms in this arena to allow traditional providers to compete more effectively with the rest of the marketplace. 

	I approve.
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