he American Cable Association has filed comments in support of Mediacom in its retransmission-consent battle with Sinclair. ACA also wants the FCC to look into the effect of local marketing agreements on such negotiations.

Specifically, ACA was throwing its weight behind a Mediacom request to the FCC for an emergency order granting carriage rights.

ACA wants the commission to allow cable operators to continue carrying broadcast signals while it considers carriage complaints, saying that not to do so could cause competitive harms to smaller cable operators who lose access to a major network affiliate, particularly if a competing DBS provider carries an affiliate of that network.

"While an operator may be able to bring an open-and-shut good faith complaint to the commission," said ACA, "it cannot afford the loss of the signal while the complaint is being adjudicated."

ACA maintains that local marketing agreements --in which one station can negotiate retrans for another station in the same market-- drive up prices to consumers.