For Immediate Release
Contact: Hillary Crowder, 703-351-2086, [email protected]
Arlington, Va. (March 28, 2014) – NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association today issued the following statement from Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield regarding the unwarranted and baseless attack by TVfreedom.org on video buying groups. Video buying groups are indispensable to small carriers that provide video services in high-cost rural areas:
“After years of effort, there is now recognition in Washington that policies allowing programmers to maintain a stranglehold over consumers and small video providers are in drastic need of reform. Broadsides by broadcasters threatened by reform are nothing more than transparent attempts to deflect focus and impede updates to badly outdated rules that have allowed broadcasters to demand excessive and escalating prices for retransmission for years on end. Without video buying groups that often provide the only hope of managing content costs, small companies could not bring video to remote areas where over-the-air signals are often difficult or impossible to receive.”
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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing nearly 900 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America. NTCA advocates on behalf of its members in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and it provides training and development; publications and industry events; and an array of employee benefit programs. In an era of exploding technology, deregulation and marketplace competition, NTCA’s members are leading the IP evolution for rural consumers, delivering technologies that make rural communities vibrant places in which to live and do business. Because of their efforts, rural America is fertile ground for innovation in economic development and commerce, education, health care, government services, security and smart energy use. Visit us at www.ntca.org.