NJ Board Advances Proposal to Increase Cable TV Regulation
New Jersey could soon add cable service-quality requirements, despite companies seeking to reduce regulation. Board of Public Utilities members voted 5-0 Wednesday to propose readopting the state’s Administrative Code Title 14 Chapter 18 rules for cable TV with substantial changes, including new required metrics and reports and changes to pole attachment rates and public, educational and government (PEG) access channel rules.
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"The only jurisdiction we have left on the state level regarding cable ... regulations is customer assistance,” BPU President Joseph Fiordaliso said at the livestreamed meeting. The state takes that role “very seriously,” he said. “When necessary, we will certainly step in and work with the consumers to ensure that they’re getting exactly what they pay for.” He stressed that Wednesday's action leaves more time for comment before proposed rules are final.
New Jersey cable rules were to expire Sept. 30, but Wednesday’s action to file the proposed rules at the Office of Administrative Law extended the deadline to March 30. Next, OAL will publish the proposed rules in the New Jersey Register, followed by a public hearing and written comments, said BPU Cable Television and Telecommunications Office Director Lawanda Gilbert. Proposed rules respond to consumer concerns raised in complaints and at two hearings this year, and industry got to weigh in through two written comment rounds in docket CX21010010, she said. The Register is published on first and third Mondays each month, OAL Administrative Rules Division Manager Thomas Harris emailed.
The board proposed a new section with reporting standards and automatic penalties for not meeting time frames for answering calls, scheduling appointments, installations, trouble reports and complaint resolution, according to a March 26 draft. Changes to other sections include proposed rules requiring companies to automatically credit customers for outages, and to allow customers to reach live operators and quickly cancel service by phone or online. Another proposed rule would require companies to offer PEG channels in the same quality as commercial channels, such as in HD.
Proposed additions “represent the bare minimum that customers expect from their cable service providers,” said New Jersey Rate Counsel Division Director Stefanie Brand after the vote. “Given the lack of FCC enforcement of service quality, we believe it is important that the BPU enforce these basic service quality requirements and we support their efforts to do so.” The division filed supportive comments in February.
“This is an example of how government should work,” said Commissioner Bob Gordon at the meeting. The board heard concerns about cable from hundreds of citizens and “countless” elected municipal officials, he said. Proposed changes aren’t directed at any one company: all have had issues, based on complaints received by the board, said Commissioner Dianne Solomon. The message might be getting through to cable, said Commissioner Mary-Anna Holden, noting she was delighted when her recent customer service call to a cable company took five minutes. “I didn't even have to play the commissioner card.”
Commissioner Upendra Chivukula asked if the board can do anything about safety of neighborhood cable equipment, which he said can be tripped over or accidentally damaged by lawnmowers. The cable office gets such consumer complaints, which is why staff recommended changes to make timely repairs and to file annual maintenance plans showing how often companies check equipment, said Gilbert. Chivukula also raised concerns about rising cable box prices, but Gilbert told him the board can’t do anything because the FCC has authority. The commissioner replied, “I hope [the] FCC is watching what you said.”
The cable industry resisted increasing regulation, in spring comments, saying competition is thriving with a lighter touch. Comcast warned in May that it had "serious federal and state law concerns.” Altice and the New Jersey Cable Telecommunications Association (NJCTA), which also includes Charter Communications, raised similar issues. Verizon urged the board to “reduce regulation rather than impose more stringent and unnecessary burdens, which will almost certainly drive up cable television costs to consumers, resulting in even more cord-cutting.”
Comcast will “continue to engage in the BPU’s rules process and emphasize the measurable improvement to the customer experience that has resulted from Comcast’s investments and commitments in New Jersey,” said Stephanie Kosta, Comcast vice president-government and regulatory affairs. Customer escalations to the BPU declined by about 70% since the board last updated cable rules in 2014, she said. Other companies didn’t comment Wednesday. An unidentified person reached at the contact number for the NJCTA said “I can’t help with that” and hung up after being asked to comment.