WASHINGTON — Andrew Jay Schwartzman, President and CEO of Media Access Project (MAP), issued the following statement regarding the petition being filed today with the Federal Communications Commission by cable operators and other groups, asking the agency to reform its retransmission consent process:

“The system is out of balance. Increasingly, broadcasters are demanding that the public pay them for access to their TV channels, even though they receive free use of public airwaves. People are tired of paying ever more for the same thing. Viewers should not be used as pawns in contract negotiations, but that is what the broadcasters are doing.

“MAP strongly supports the procedural reforms suggested in today’s Petition for Rulemaking. In particular, MAP believes that adoption of a ‘standstill’ rule will insure that the public will not be held hostage while negotiations are under way. The current system has allowed broadcasters to create artificial ‘crises’ as a means of extracting excessive retransmission fees.

“MAP intends to work aggressively with the coalition that filed the Petition for Rulemaking to achieve prompt FCC action.”