NCTA Calls On FCC To Rescind Letters Of Inquiry

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to rescind the FCC's letters of inquiry to cable operators about their move of some channels from analog to digital tiers, calling the letters an abuse of the Commission's process and a violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. In a letter to Chairman Martin and his fellow FCC Commissioners, NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said NCTA would be glad to discuss the issue of cable's migration to digital with the FCC, a migration McSlarrow says he believes to be "plainly in the public interest." But he took issue with the FCC sending out letters to 13 companies in order to obtain industry-wide information, saying a more general Notice of Inquiry or the FCC's annual video competition report were more appropriate venues. Since the 13 companies represent 86% of cable customers, said McSlarrow, the letters were a defacto Notice of Inquiry, but were released by the Chairman alone "without input from the other commissioners," which would have been required of a Notice of Inquiry. FCC spokesperson Edie Herman said that the Commission's mailing of letters to 13 cable companies does not violate the Paperwork Reduction Act and, rather than being a broad inquiry masquerading as a targeted one, as cable forces claim, is an official government request for information based on complaints received from cable subscribers about the specific companies involved.