FCC Notice Supports Similar Marketing Rules Across Telecom

It largely resembles a bureau document publicly released April 11 recommending commissioners find the Bell broke no rules by trying to retain customers who wanted to switch service to different carriers, said industry and FCC officials. Verizon was accused of using inappropriate marketing tactics when it was asked to transfer its customers’ phone numbers to other carriers. The bureau document said the three cable operators failed to prove that Verizon marketing efforts violated the Communications Act (CD April 15 p5). The bureau said it would deal later with whether Verizon broke rules on other customer retention practices, but a commission source said it’s unclear how that allegation will be dealt with.

Commissioners will probably meet the deadline to vote on the order, though they've only recently started to give it a close look, said people familiar with it. Commissioners haven’t proposed any changes to it, but might do so soon, they said. The vote deadline is either June 20 or 23, depending on when a 70-day period for an order to be issued begins, said agency and industry sources. FCC spokesmen declined to comment on the order and related notice. For customer retention policies, “the playing field should be leveled across platforms and the same rules should apply to all providers,” said an FCC spokesman.

Verizon wants the same. Telecom companies should get a chance to make a “last pitch” to defecting customers by offering promotions and such, said Leora Hochstein, executive director of federal regulatory for Verizon. “One provider shouldn’t be prevented from offering information to the customer,” she said in an interview. “There should be parity between the different providers regardless of what platform you're using.” Verizon’s request for an FCC declaratory ruling letting a customer’s new video provider cancel the old account “could be teed up” in a rulemaking, she added.

Bright House and Time Warner Cable said executives are meeting with FCC officials to make their case that Verizon broke number porting rules. “We're pretty confident that we'll get a fair hearing and that the commission will recognize that Verizon has violated commission rules,” said a Time Warner Cable spokeswoman. A Bright House spokeswoman said “we expect to prevail.” A Comcast spokeswoman didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

A separate but related rulemaking notice from the Wireline Bureau asks what retention marketing practices should be permitted by the FCC for a wide range of telecom services, said agency and industry officials. The notice was circulated June 2 by Martin, but there’s no deadline for commissioners to vote on it, they said. It tentatively finds that rules should be similar for broadband, video and voice services across all wireline providers, they said. Commission and industry officials described it as an mostly “open ended” notice, reaching few conclusions. A Wireline Bureau spokesman declined to comment.

The bureau’s notice doesn’t ask whether the FCC should require a porting process for when customers change broadband and video providers, said the people familiar with it. Verizon had asked the commission to consider adding such rules, which exist for phone service, to video service. Even though the notice doesn’t specifically ask about requiring cable operators to accept disconnection notices from a former subscriber’s new pay-TV provider, the issue may be seen by some as linked to retention marketing and commenters could address both issues, said the people.