The FCC should consider developing a process to deal with complaints relating to video device...

recounted meetings where retransmission consent deals and online video distributors also were discussed with aides to all FCC members other than Chairman Julius Genachowski. The Media Bureau has effectively paused the AllVid proceeding that had sought to propose rules for all pay-TV providers to connect to video devices sold by retailers, without using CableCARDs (WID June 23 p4). The process Public Knowledge seeks would let any manufacturer, developer or consumer alleging a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) violated Section 629 of the Telecom Act complain to the commission, Legal Director Harold Feld told us. “For example, when Zoom filed their complaint against Comcast last year that Comcast was discriminating against them in violation of Section 629, they needed to rely on the FCC’s general complaint regulations and did not have a clear process for filing their complaint. We think that if the commission plans to rely on ’the market’ to move forward, there must be some way to protect would-be providers of services -- as well as consumers -- from unfair and anticompetitive practices explicitly prohibited by the statute.” Cable modem maker Zoom and Comcast settled their dispute over Zoom’s ability to test its products to work on the cable operator’s broadband network, and the complaint was dismissed at both sides’ request in March. The FCC’s MVPD competition report is a “great opportunity” for the regulator to “broaden the scope of what is considered an MVPD,” the nonprofit said. Online video distributors should be able to choose whether they want to be classified as an MVPD, it said. The group acknowledged that will “involve components outside of the FCC’s jurisdiction, such as copyright,” and asked the commission to work with the Copyright Office “to facilitate consistent, uniform” rules.