FCC Cable Report May Lag Over Video Competition Discussion
An FCC report on cable pricing may be released later than expected because Chmn. Martin is trying to use it to push his agenda of encouraging cable competition from Bells to reduce customer bills (CD Feb 13 p2), industry sources said. There’s industry speculation the report has been delayed as Martin and colleagues debate whether and how the study will treat a la carte, franchising and other hot-button themes. FCC staff said it’s not delayed.
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The report usually appears annually with the FCC pay-TV competition study, unveiled more than a month ago (CD March 6 p5), said industry sources. Last year, both reports came out Feb. 4. The last price report found customers whose cable systems weren’t deemed competitive paid an average of $45.56 monthly in 2004. That’s 14% more than the average of $39.37 paid by subscribers in areas with “wireline overbuild” systems, it said. The document is expected to show prices rose at more than the inflation rate, and industry officials have said Martin may use it to tout a la carte (CD March 15 p3).
FCC officials have offered few reasons for the lag. No specific thing is holding it up, Martin aide Heather Dixon said, answering our question on a panel at NCTA’s show last week in Atlanta. The FCC is “dealing with a lot of other issues,” she said. Dixon had no further comment Tues. The Commission doesn’t comment on the timing of pending releases, said an FCC spokeswoman. The FCC and Martin will support video competition, regardless of the setting, Precursor Pres. Scott Cleland said: “There’s no question the FCC wants to encourage competition and encourage broadband deployment -- those are clear goals.” Instead of also addressing metrics like customer service, he added, “too often competition is boiled down to just price.”
“Horsetrading” between Martin and Comr. Adelstein may be a factor in the holdup, said Womble Carlyle’s Ross Buntrock. Adelstein has said the FCC should “start over” in its study of selling channels individually (CD April 11 p1). The delay could stem from “the a la carte push that the chairman is pushing, and some of the public statements by Commissioner Adelstein that the Commission may want to consider somewhat of a clean slate and throw out the a la carte report as well as the Powell report,” Buntrock said: “Another kind of complementary consideration might be the item that the Commission has coming up on video competition. There might be some effort to utilize this document to further that and move the ball along a little bit.”