A variety of pay-TV companies failed to get FCC Chairman Kevin Ma...
A variety of pay-TV companies failed to get FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to seek a vote on their request that the agency prevent cable operators from withholding from rivals content not distributed by satellite. In Monday letters to Martin,…
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the Broadband Service Providers Association and Coalition for Competitive Access to Content sought a vote on a ban. Oct. 9, Martin told coalition members that commissioners would meet Nov. 4, that group said. But Tuesday, when Martin unveiled items he wanted commissioners vote on by Election Day, the list included no cable-related items (CD Oct 15 p1). “We want to make one final request that the terrestrial loophole be included in the preliminary agenda for this meeting,” wrote John Goodman, coalition president. “The best opportunity to demonstrate that there are enough votes to close the loophole is to have the issue on the preliminary agenda.” The need to close the terrestrial loophole lacks the “recent visibility” of other subjects before the regulator, but “all past FCC actions in his area would indicate an expected bipartisan support” among members, said Goodman. AT&T, Cincinnati Bell, DirecTV and USTelecom belong to the coalition. The broadband association, whose members include RCN and SureWest, said “the most important foundation for video competition is assured access to must have programming.” Its letter to Martin, signed by executive director Goodman, said small, independent pay-TV companies “disproportionately” face hurdles getting terrestrially delivered programming. “We fully recognize that closing the loophole is not the only active competitive issue” among pay- TV companies, said Goodman. “We have provided our support for the Wholesale Untying and other policy issues.” Martin also is said to be keen on requiring wholesale programming unbundling.