The American Cable Association is backing NCTA-The Internet & Television Association's call for revisiting, and preferably eliminating, the FCC's rules on part-time leased access programming.

That came in its reply comments on the FCC's review of the rules, which deal with cable operator requirements to lease channels to independent programmers and the rates they can charge.

"ACA agrees with NCTA that the Commission should consider eliminating or limiting part-time leases, and permitting cable operators to establish minimum per day purchase requirements," ACA told the commission.

Related: Pai Signals Leased Access Do-Over

ACA and NCTA both complain that the part-time rules are a regulatory invention that imposes added costs for which cable operators are not always sufficiently compensated and that the diverse programming that additional burden was meant to generate is being taken care of by forces in a market "which is more competitive and diverse than Congress or the Commission could ever have imagined," ACA told the commission, adding: "Given the immense variety of distribution outlets available to content creators today, it is no longer supportable for the Commission to force cable operators to accommodate requests for leased access that will never generate sufficient revenue to even cover administrative costs."

Charles Stogner, president of the Leased Access Programmers Association (LAPA), sees it differently.

"[C]able operators wailing about the time and expense of handling leased access are only shedding ‘crocodile tears,' he said. "With leased access being a law since 1984 it’s hard to imagine any cable operator not being aware of the requirements when developing or purchasing an existing system."

If the FCC does not deep-six the part time rules, ACA says it should at least exempt small cable systems. 

The FCC in June voted unanimously to "modernize" its leased access rules.

Related: Stogner Has Access to Grind Over Cable Treatment

Under the current rules, cable operators are required to set aside channels, including part-time use, for lease to unaffiliated third parties according to a set formula: Cable operators with fewer than 36 channels only have to set aside channels if it was part of their franchise agreement before the leased-access rules were enacted. Those with 36 to 54 channels have to set aside 10%. Operators with at least 55 channels have to set aside 15%.

The formula has numerous other elements, including set-asides for minority programming, minimum technical support to the lessees, prohibitions on indecent programming, and rates based on the average "implicit" fee non-leased access programmers pay for carriage, essentially enough to recover costs and turn a profit, and a maximum rate for a la carte.

Charles Stogner, president of the Leased Access Programmers Association (LAPA) and of programmer StogMedia, said cable operators have a mandate from Congress to be a genuine outlet for leased access programming as a way to promote choice, diversity and competition, and the FCC has a responsibility to make that happen.

In his view, both have fallen down on the job, big time.

That came in comments to the FCC as it prepares to weigh into that issue as it considers leased access rule changes that have been stayed since 2008, when cable operators filed suit against them. The changes never went into effect.

Stogner gave an "amen" to leased access fan Andrew Schwartzman's observation in the same comment docket that "leased access was a promising concept that the FCC strangled at birth," saying that the FCC "recreated" leased access in ways that hurt programmers.

Related: FCC Says TW Must Stop Charging StogMedia Per-Insertion Fees For Leased Access

As for cable operators--who are asking the FCC to eliminate the rules, arguing they date from a time when there was far less diversity and competition in video and no over-the-top outlets for independent video--Stogner said mega-operators no longer even try to be part of their local communities.

"[C]able operators wailing about the time and expense of handling leased access are only shedding ‘crocodile tears,' he said. "With leased access being a law since 1984 it’s hard to imagine any cable operator not being aware of the requirements when developing or purchasing an existing system."

Cable operators have complained of the time and effort to respond to leased access requests, seeking to limit their responsibilities to only "bona fide" requests. "With office workers already in place it should only take a few minutes, perhaps only seconds, to answer the request, not the hours they seem to have complained to OMB [Office of Management and Budget] would be involved."

Related: How Much for Leased Access

Stogner also said the FCC has allowed cable ops to move leased access from a basic channel to a less-viewed tier, even though "Congress emphatically instructed FCC not to permit cable operators to place leased access on channels where the operator had ‘market power’ over leased access."

"Perhaps its time now to leave the lawyers out of the room and have FCC’s staff finally meet with representatives of our association, LAPA, and have open and extensive discussions of how they see programmers as having been treated, or I suggest ‘mistreated’ by cable and FCC’s staff and finish establishing rules governing leased access," Stogner added.