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FCC Moves To Regulate Cable TV Competition

Posted by kdawson on from the see-your-60-and-raise-you-10 dept.

explosivejared writes "The Federal Communications Commission is likely to impose a new regulation on the largely unregulated cable television industry, the first of what may be more to come. Under a proposed rule circulating at the FCC, cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have to slash the price they charge smaller television programmers to lease access on spare cable channels, a move the FCC says would open up cable viewers to a wider diversity of shows. In addition, the FCC is contemplating a national ownership cap that would prevent one company from having more than 30 percent of all cable subscribers." TechDirt has a jaundiced view of FCC chairman Martin's animus against the cablecos.

4 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Why is this a federal issue? by compumike · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The problem is that individual municipalities have been selling cable monopolies for decades... and in the old days, it used to be the case that no one cable company would get all of a particular large city, to ensure at least some semblance of competition. These days, they've all merged into one (in Philadelphia, at least).

    What I think might be interesting is to decouple the wire from the service provider. Think about electricity deregulation: the transmission is seperate from the generation, and while everyone has to pay for the transmission (since we don't want overly redundant infrastructure), individuals can choose their generation source. The disadvantage here, as seen in the electrical case, is that there are more places to nickel-and-dime consumers. However, done with cable systems, we might actually have enough diversity of service offerings that it makes sense.

    --
    Educational microcontroller lab kits for the digital generation.

    1. Re:Why is this a federal issue? by ExploHD · · Score: 5, Informative

      What I think might be interesting is to decouple the wire from the service provider

      They do have something like that in Utah called Utopia. Here's the link: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may06/3434

  2. Cripple the industry? by stox · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is that a euphemism for not raping their customers?

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
  3. Teddy Roosevelt would be proud by TwoHundredOk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would be the first one to applaud the break-up of the cable-company monopolies. They seem to make the companies, at least Comcast which I have had experience with, cocky to the point of not caring about customer service, pricing, or competition in general. However, I am having difficulty seeing how the FCC can advocate for the end (or at least modifications) to this monopoly, while allowing heating, water, and electric utility companies to maintain theirs. Is there a differentiation that I am missing?