Post by dkennedy on Feb 2, 2005 13:23:59 GMT -5
FCC Staff Rejects Massive Cable Deregulation
By Ted Hearn
Multichannel News
2/2/2005 12:51 PM
Federal Communications Commission staff has rejected a cable-industry proposal that would have triggered massive rate deregulation across the country and allowed cable systems to raise basic-cable and equipment rates with impunity.
The proposal, floated by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association nearly four years ago, called for total cable-rate deregulation in at least 41 states unless state regulators assigned lawyers to prove to the FCC that deregulation was unjustified in thousands of discrete communities.
FCC sources said the five commissioners are reviewing the staff recommendation, but it was unclear whether the agency will adopt the proposal unchanged or modify it to appease cable before chairman Michael Powell leaves the agency in March.
By Ted Hearn
Multichannel News
2/2/2005 12:51 PM
Federal Communications Commission staff has rejected a cable-industry proposal that would have triggered massive rate deregulation across the country and allowed cable systems to raise basic-cable and equipment rates with impunity.
The proposal, floated by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association nearly four years ago, called for total cable-rate deregulation in at least 41 states unless state regulators assigned lawyers to prove to the FCC that deregulation was unjustified in thousands of discrete communities.
FCC sources said the five commissioners are reviewing the staff recommendation, but it was unclear whether the agency will adopt the proposal unchanged or modify it to appease cable before chairman Michael Powell leaves the agency in March.