FCC Trimming Backlog of Cable Rate Deregulation Requests
The FCC is partway through trimming a backlog of requests from cable operators to be freed of local rate and equipment regulation, said commission and industry officials. The Media Bureau in recent months has stepped up approvals of petitions seeking findings of effective video competition, our research found. The bureau granted 31 orders May 7-28, after having granted none during the corresponding three weeks in April.
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Last month’s spate of bureau orders compares to 2005 and 2007 (CD Sept 28/05 p1) when the bureau, under Chairman Kevin Martin, issued many effective-competition findings in periods of weeks or months. This May’s orders cover about 520 communities, including Baltimore and Nashville, in 21 states. Recipients included Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter, Cox Communications, Comcast, Mediacom, Suddenlink and Time Warner Cable. Their requests to escape local regulation of basic-cable rates and prices for some cable equipment used by customers cited competition from AT&T, DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon, among other factors.
Hardly any of the cable operators’ petitions granted recently were opposed by local franchise authorities, our study found. Such opposition can slow bureau approval, cable lawyers said. After the recent backlog-whittling, some requests for deregulation have taken more than a year although the localities haven’t objected, an industry lawyer said. “There’s a rather large backlog. The commission has gone in spurts like this for a while,” approving uncontested requests over a period of weeks, he said. “We're just in one of those cycles. I think there are still quite a few that have been pending."
"We continue to work on our backlog in this area,” a bureau spokeswoman said. The FCC doesn’t release the exact number of pending petitions, and officials there declined to provide it. But the current number seems lower than the peak under Martin, said five cable lawyers and industry officials. “It seems like they're doing a better job of getting them processed,” a lawyer said.
"The commission should be commended for approving effective competition petitions,” NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said. They “demonstrate that the video marketplace continues to provide consumers with a growing array of choices and more competition than ever before,” he said.
With more subscribers buying a bundle of services, the significance to companies of local regulation of basic-cable rates is declining, said lawyer Dan Brenner of Hogan Lovells, who represents cable operators. “As a business matter, you want to have that flexibility if you're entitled to it. But as a practical matter, you're focused on bundled services today.” He said getting commission approval of effective-competition petitions is “still of importance” to operators.