Cable systems haven’t received requests yet for data to help the ...
Cable systems haven’t received requests yet for data to help the FCC decide if its so-called 70/70 test has been met, said agency and industry officials. The test tells the agency whether it can further regulate operators. FCC Chairman…
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Kevin Martin last year removed from an FCC annual report to Congress on video competition a finding that more than 70 percent of homes passed by systems with at least 36 channels bought the service, after all other commissioners balked (CD Special Bulletin Nov 28 p1). The report was based on data from the Television and Cable Factbook (which is published by Communications Daily publisher Warren Communications News) to arrive at a figure at 71.4 percent. However, Warren said its raw data alone weren’t suited to making the calculation. The commissioners voted to ask all cable systems to report figures directly to the agency, which it hasn’t done. Martin may be in no hurry to request the material, since the data likely will show that the threshold hasn’t been exceeded, said a cable attorney. Martin said he needs several types of approval to send out the document, including Office of Management and Budget sign-off. “Whenever you have a new process to try to gather information from the industry, you have to draft a new form and it has to go through levels of approval,” he told reporters March 20. “When everything gets approved we'll end up doing that, but we do that with every form that we end up drafting that goes out to industry.”