It’s a lack of opportunity not lack of intent that...
It’s a lack of opportunity not lack of intent that has kept Adams Cable Equipment from selling many retail cable boxes, its lawyer said in a meeting with an FCC Media Bureau official, according to an ex parte notice describing…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
that meeting. Baja Broadband, a cable operator with a waiver to buy Adams’ refurbished integrated-security set-top boxes, has just 12,000 subscribers, the letter said. “The number of retail devices that ACE has sold in this limited market would translate to thousands of boxes annually if ACE could sell in the markets of numerous small operators, or tens of thousands if it could sell nationally,” it said. Adams is not suggesting that such retail sales would “satisfy” Section 629 of the Communications Act, it said. “But there can be no doubt that retail availability of low-cost set-top boxes would advance the goals of Section 629,” it said. Adams has sought a waiver from the FCC’s band on selling CableCARD-less set-top boxes that would allow it to sell its refurbished boxes to more cable operators.