Cable Industry and Cable Regulators Lament Power of FCC

The Federal Communications Commission has gone all out in its efforts against cable television operators, two speakers close to the cable industry said at the Alliance for Community Media annual conference. The unprecedented power accumulated by the FCC “should strike fear on all of us,” said Libby Beaty, executive director of the National Association of Telecommunication Officers and Advisors. The agency “has gone after local government and cable TV.” NATOA represents local officials that supervise cable television franchises, and has been critical of FCC moves to bypass local franchise authorities. “The worst thing in the world is to get the government involved” in the cable television business, said Dan Brenner, senior vice president for law and regulatory policy with the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which represents leading cable operators. “It’s micromanaging that we want [to] avoid,” he said.