ABC Fights Network Programming Limits

ABC Television President Alex Wallau and other executives from the Walt Disney Co.-owned network lobbied commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission against reimposing regulations that prevent networks from only airing TV shows they own and produce.

A coalition of independent producers and writers have asked the FCC to reinstate the agency’s financial interest and syndication rule, which was struck down by a federal court in 1992. Producers say such rules are needed to keep the power of networks in check. But Wallau and Preston Padden, chief lobbyist for Disney, told commissioners that growth of cable channels has caused the broadcast networks’ power and audience share to decline.