Martin Says He Won't Tie A La Carte Mandate to New Cable Rules

MARTIN SAYS HE WON'T TIE A LA CARTE MANDATE TO NEW CABLE RULES
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday said he would not use a new statistical finding of cable dominance to adopt rules that would allow consumers to buy cable networks on an individual or a la carte basis as an option to large programming tiers. “I haven't proposed anything for the commission to do anything on a la carte,” Martin said in a conference call with reporters on a largely unrelated topic. “I don't have anything proposed in front of the commission. I don't have any plan for ending up doing that.” Under the 1984 Cable Act, the FCC may “promulgate any additional rules necessary to provide diversity of information sources” if it finds that cable systems with 36 or more channels are available to 70% of U.S. households and 70% of households subscribe to systems with that minimum number of channels.” Chairman Martin reportedly wants to use the 70/70 test to slash cable leased access rates by 75%; cap Comcast at 30% of all pay-TV subscribers nationally; and force Comcast and Time Warner to accept the results of an arbitrator on the carriage of the Hallmark Channel and the NFL Network.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6500702.html?rssid=196

* FCC itching to get its hands on your cable
[Commentary] Perhaps it's not all that surprising. Any government agency set up with a mission to regulate some aspect of commercial life develops an institutional imperative to regulate ever more aspects. So the Federal Communications Commission, which was barred by law in 1984 from regulating cable television ­ to give the industry a chance to grow and develop ­ now wants to start regulating the industry with a vengeance. It would be difficult to imagine a better way to stifle the growing array of choices consumers have available for viewing television programming.
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/cable-fcc-government-1921257-industry-...

* When Lap Dogs Roar (Marty Kitman)
[Commentary] The most amazing thing that happened in media this week, if not this century or the last millennium, is the Federal Communications Commission discovering leading companies have become too dominant in the cable industry. The giants have become too big, the FCC concluded, and they are planning new rules to open the cable TV market to independent programmers and rival video services.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marvin-kitman/when-lap-dogs-roar_b_72448.h...

NCTA'S MCSLARROW: 70/70 CALL DOESN'T ADD UP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow ripped into the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming finding that the cable industry passed the 70/70 threshold. In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and the other commissioners Tuesday, McSlarrow used terms like "manipulating data," "policymaking by press leaks," "a false view of the video marketplace" and a "relentless drive for more regulation," as well as " a disturbing pattern of attempts to set policies that harm consumers," to characterize FCC Chairman Martin's revelation that the FCC's new video-competition report -- likely to be issued at its upcoming November public meeting -- will find that cable meets the 70/70 test. McSlarrow said the 70/70 threshold has not been met, citing data from Kagan Research, Nielsen Media Research and Warren Communications, adding that the chairman's suggestion that other information showed otherwise continued a pattern in which "important factual inquiries are subject to sudden, inexplicable shifts in the FCC’s methodology and conclusions." McSlarrow also said it demonstrated "a recurring, disturbing pattern of attempts to set policies that harm consumers."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6500686.html?rssid=193
See NCTA letter:
http://www.ncta.com/DocumentBinary.aspx?id=648