Small and mid-sized cable operators are not happy with the new guidelines in the second round of bidding for broadband stimulus bucks, with the American Cable Association arguing that the guidelines essentially cut them out of meaningful participation in the stimulus project.
In a letter to the heads of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service, which are handing out the billions in broadband bucks, ACA President Matt Polka said that the new guidelines "extinguish any hope for small cable operators to use broadband stimulus funds to build out last-mile facilities." Of the 80 ACA members (less than 10% of membership) who applied in the first round of funding, only one received it, according to Polka, suggesting the odds for success could be worse, not better, this time around.
