The FCC should overturn five local rate orders...
The FCC should overturn five local rate orders from four Minnesota local regulatory commissions (LRC) covering Comcast’s equipment rates and service fees, said the cable provider in a Wednesday filing. Four of the rate orders from the North Suburban Communications…
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.
Commission, North Metro Telecommunications Commission, Ramsey/Washington Counties Suburban Cable Communications Commission and South Washington County Telecommunications Commission are from 2012, while one from North Suburban is from 2013. Comcast said the practices targeted by the LRC in the rate orders are all compliant with FCC rules, including charging a $5.99 “convenience” fee for customers who pay their bills by phone. This fee is outside the authority of the LRCs to regulate, Comcast said. “Unfortunately, the LRCs’ unyielding insistence on pursuing unreasonable and unlawful rate requirements thwarted all attempts to cooperatively resolve these rate orders.” The company said that its pricing practices for basic-only and non-basic-only converters are also within FCC rules, and offered a “compliance plan” in which it will more clearly disclose equipment charges on its bills and rate cards. Along with asking the FCC to grant the appeals, the cable operator asked the agency to order the LRCs to “resolve the cases consistent with the commission’s decision and stay the current rate orders until that resolution takes place.”