NCTA and Verizon squared off over an FCC order to ban exclusive a...
NCTA and Verizon squared off over an FCC order to ban exclusive agreements between apartment buildings and video providers for pay TV (CD Oct 22 p4). Verizon said cable arguments that the commission lacks authority to intervene are bogus,…
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citing section 628 of the Communications Act. The company said NCTA and some of its members made “a variety of misplaced arguments” on the order, circulated in September by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. It would bar future and existing exclusives between any company and multiple dwelling units, and may be voted on Oct. 31. Such deals, Verizon said, “foreclose residents of MDUs from obtaining access to a competitive option, often for long periods of time.” In a filing late Wednesday, NCTA said FCC action would be “inappropriate and counterproductive.” A ban would overstep the commission’s legal authority, said NCTA. It said section 628 of the Act is directed at program access and doesn’t give the commission “broad, roving authority to prohibit any practices that, in its view, unfairly affect competition” among video providers. In separate letters to the FCC, the Communication Workers of America and a consortium of public- interest groups said they supported FCC action. But the commission may want to exempt from new rules exclusives between landlords and cable overbuilders or new video entrants, said a filing from the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, New America Foundation and others.