Martin Tells NCTA He’s No Foe of Cable Industry
LAS VEGAS -- Calling himself no enemy of cable, FCC Chmn. Martin said he sides with that industry when it’s the new entrant in fields like VoIP, but sometimes favors upstarts in businesses that cable dominates, including pay TV. In a brief speech to NCTA here, taking no audience questions before leaving the stage, he cited matters he had recently sided with cable on. For example, he said, he’s circulating a rulemaking to resolve Cox’s complaint that it couldn’t sell phone service to apartment dwellers.
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Martin’s other recent cable-friendly gestures include his action on a Time Warner Cable VoIP interconnection complaint, he said. “We made clear that new telephone entrants, such as cable, must be given access to local telephone numbers” and interconnection rights, Martin said: “Your entry into the voice market dominated by an incumbent has not been easy… and I have supported you.” Citing Comcast’s addition of 600,000 phone customers last quarter, he said the industry “succeeded where others have failed” and “contributed significantly to the downward price pressure on phone service, benefitting all consumers… It is this type of competition we are trying to facilitate.”
Martin sees broadband policies on which he agrees with cable, including the lack of need for net neutrality rules and broadband levies such as franchise fees. “From my first days at the Commission I have supported efforts to refrain from regulating your broadband services,” he said. As for net neutrality, he added, “lots of people would like the FCC to impose regulation in this area. I have consistently… said I believe any regulation in this area would be premature… I also believe network providers should be able to recoup the costs” of building infrastructure.
Martin admitted he’s not in complete harmony with industry, and used his NCTA appearance to stump for cable a la carte. He said the Commission is working to address “a multitude” of CableCARD waivers, which may be approved if cable operators promise to start all-digital service. (See separate report in this issue.) Of CableCARD set-top boxes, he said, “the Commission has recognized that many small cable operators may need more time to have their orders filled because they are typically in the back of the line.”
“It’s more than a pleasure to be here, it’s a surprise,” Martin said: “Over the last few months, I wondered whether I would be invited,” let alone speak. “I'd like to set the record straight, I actually don’t dislike cable,” he said, noting he gets TV and broadband from a cable operator: “It’s true that I have some strong beliefs when it comes to matters affecting your industry.”