GNG News Guy
11-28-2007, 08:11 AM
http://i.dslr.net/urls/97/797.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Late-Night-Fun-At-The-FCC-89781)
After delays and disagreement yesterday (http://thegng.org/shownews/FCC-Cable-Regulation-Vote-Delayed-89763), the FCC last night came to a compromise over whether to use the 70-70 rule to grab additional regulatory authority over the cable industry. The NYTimes (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/business/media/28cable.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin) notes that all was not well last night among the agency's commissioners, who have been fighting over whether the cable industry has grown large enough to require a new regulatory collar:At an acrimonious two-hour hearing that ended shortly before midnight, Jonathan S. Adelstein, a Democratic commissioner, and Robert M. McDowell, a Republican commissioner, criticized the process leading up to the votes. They suggested that Mr. Martin had relied on misleading data about the cable industry s reach, and suppressed more reliable data already in the commission s hands, to justify his regulatory agenda. Mr. Martin disputed them, saying that the F.C.C. s own data was not reliable, and that the most reliable data available showed that the industry had grown so large that greater regulation was justified.
Martin's plan to regulate the cable industry is now on hold for several months, giving cable operators enough time to provide subscriber data to the FCC. You can assume that data will show that the industry is not quite dominant enough to trigger the 70/70 rule, which means this is a big win for the cable sector.
After delays and disagreement yesterday (http://thegng.org/shownews/FCC-Cable-Regulation-Vote-Delayed-89763), the FCC last night came to a compromise over whether to use the 70-70 rule to grab additional regulatory authority over the cable industry. The NYTimes (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/business/media/28cable.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin) notes that all was not well last night among the agency's commissioners, who have been fighting over whether the cable industry has grown large enough to require a new regulatory collar:At an acrimonious two-hour hearing that ended shortly before midnight, Jonathan S. Adelstein, a Democratic commissioner, and Robert M. McDowell, a Republican commissioner, criticized the process leading up to the votes. They suggested that Mr. Martin had relied on misleading data about the cable industry s reach, and suppressed more reliable data already in the commission s hands, to justify his regulatory agenda. Mr. Martin disputed them, saying that the F.C.C. s own data was not reliable, and that the most reliable data available showed that the industry had grown so large that greater regulation was justified.
Martin's plan to regulate the cable industry is now on hold for several months, giving cable operators enough time to provide subscriber data to the FCC. You can assume that data will show that the industry is not quite dominant enough to trigger the 70/70 rule, which means this is a big win for the cable sector.