FCC Opens Two Wide-Ranging Probes of Cable Operators
Cable operators face more scrutiny by the FCC, which is looking into channel lineup changes (CD Oct 31 p17) and has widened an inquiry into switched-digital deployments, commission and industry officials said. In recent days the Enforcement Bureau sent some companies letters of inquiry that demanded unusually quick replies, they said. Cable officials said the inquiries leave them perplexed about whether FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants the industry to go all-digital, since both investigations involve operators’ efforts to reclaim analog bandwidth and move to digital operations. In approving cable operators’ waivers of CableCARD rules, the FCC endorsed all-digital operations.
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The latest FCC inquiry seems to have begun Thursday. That’s the date on bureau letters asking operators to answer subscriber complaints about moves of channels from analog programming packages to digital bundles, commission and cable officials said. The letters ask for a “voluminous” amount of information on the channel changes, said a lawyer who has seen some. The letters express concerns similar to those expressed by Consumers Union in a letter Wednesday to members of Congress, industry and agency officials said. Later that day, an FCC spokeswoman said the commission shares the organization’s concern that the channel changes require subscribers to choose been fewer channels or paying more monthly to keep getting as many as they have been.
The letters ask operators to provide spreadsheets listing how much they charge for channels being moved and how much they pay programmers for the rights to carry those channels, industry and commission officials said. Operators also are asked what they charge for set-top boxes needed to get the digital channels, and what they pay manufacturers for the devices, they said. Responses are due to the bureau in 14 days, they said. Letters of inquiry often allow 30 days or more for responses, FCC officials said. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment.
In another inquiry, the bureau sent some cable operators letters dated Oct. 24 asking about switched-digital deployments, said agency and industry officials. Switched digital technology lets cable operators save bandwidth used for video by only distributing to subscribers the signals of channels actively being watched. Responses to the letters also are due 14 days from the FCC sent them, the officials said. A spokesman for the NCTA declined to comment on the inquiries.
The switched-digital letters of inquiry describe subscriber complaints similar to those in October bureau notices of apparent liability issued to Cox and Time Warner Cable (CD Oct 17 p11), FCC and cable industry officials said. Those letters cite allegations of violations of FCC plug and play rules, the 1992 Cable Act and section 629 of the Telecom Act, said a person who has seen some.