Massachusetts Arguments Against Charter Petition 'Too Clever by Half,' NCTA Says
Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable's argument that DirecTV Now doesn't offer channels of service and its service isn't comparable to Charter Communications' cable as effective competition with Charter Communications (see 1810260026) is a " 'gotcha' argument [that] is too…
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clever by half," NCTA said in a docket 18-283 posting Monday. It said no statutory definition or policy rationale MDTC cited applies to the LEC test, and that statutory test doesn't include the word "channel" but instead looks at comparable video programming service issues. Congress said an LEC-owned service offering comparable video service would exempt cable systems from rate regulation, and DirecTV Now obviously fits that bill, it said. Charter seeks a determination of effective competition in Massachusetts and Hawaii based on AT&T's DirecTV Now virtual MVPD (see 1809170020).