Mediacom Accuses Wheeler 'Dramatic Inconsistency' on Retrans
Referencing quantum theory, the CERN Large Hedron Collider and 1960s sitcom Bewitched, Mediacom criticized FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's opting not to reform retransmission consent rules as "doom[ing] consumers to continued pummeling from the double whammy that congress unambiguously directed the…
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Commission to prevent" service interruption and significant increases in subscriber costs at unprecedented rates. The 12-page filing Friday in docket 15-216 by Mediacom General Counsel Joseph Young likened Wheeler to Bewitched's Samantha and her evil, nearly identical cousin Serena: "The dramatic inconsistency between the Commission's recent actions and the expectations created by Chairman Wheeler's early pronouncements on policy and process suggests the possibility of distinct Chairman Wheelers -- the equivalents of Samantha and Serena." Touching on Don Quixote and the psychological phenomenon of inattentional blindness, Mediacom decried the set-top box and ISP privacy proceedings as "correcting problems that either don't really exist or are of no real consequence to the vast majority of Americans." But much of its critique involved the agency's totality of circumstances test review and subsequent decision not to amend a rule (see 1607140047). While one of the Wheelers -- Chairman 1 -- expressed sympathy for pay-TV subscribers, Mediacom said, "Chairman 2 ... turned the policies articulated by Chairman 1 on their head" by ignoring the need for addressing retrans. "If the rules are really adequate for the job, then why, as the Chairman himself noted in his March 6, 2014, blog entry, are blackouts continuing to occur and prices continuing to rise without abatement?" Mediacom said. "All of this suggests that Chairman 1 has, indeed, gone missing. We need to get him back." The FCC didn't comment.