"70/70" Debate Comes Down to Wire

DEBATE CONTINUES OVER WHETHER CABLE CROSSED 70/70 THRESHOLD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Representatives from Media Access Project and the Consumer Federation of America told Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein cable has indeed passed the 70% subscribership threshold that triggers potential new FCC regulations, while Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett continued to maintain that this was essentially impossible given the figures offered up by cable companies under severe penalties for misreporting. In his letter, dated Nov. 21, Moffet said that it was "mathematically impossible" for cable to have reached the 70% subscriber figure. In a letter to Commissioner Adelstein -- buttressed by a second from CFA's Mark Cooper -- Feld argued that Moffett "severely underestimates" the number of cable subscribers added in 2006. Feld cited accounting practices that "systemically undercount millions of subscribers in [multiple-dwelling units], condo associations and housing associations,” saying it was a matter of different accounting systems rather than a question of lying by the cable operators.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6505157.html?rssid=193

* House Republican Leader Takes Aim at 70/70
In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wrote, "The FCC may even try to invoke authority over the cable industry under an excessively broad reading of the 70/70 provision from the 1984 Cable Act. This provision was not intended to grant the FCC carte blanche to impose other types of regulation." Although the provision does empower the FCC to impose new regulations to foster program diversity, Rep Boehner backs a narrow reading saying, "It was drafted more than 20 years ago as a mechanism to respond to decreases in sources of content, and that clearly is not a problem today." He has asked House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton (R-TX) to watch that the FCC treats all industries fairly.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6505194.html?rssid=193

* Republican Sens.: FCC May Be Overstepping Authority
On Monday, Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Gordon Smith (R-OR) and John Sununu (R-NH) wrote FCC Chairman Martin to say that they don't like what looks to them like potentially "sweeping new regulations on the cable industry." They warned the FCC not to substitute its "regulatory preferences over the determinations of the marketplace," saying that if there is going to be any fundamental shift in regulatory policymaking, it needs to be at the direction of Congress.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6505171.html?rssid=193

* Senate Republicans Slam FCC Chairman Martin’s Cable Plan
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6505226.html?rssid=196

* Free Market Organizations Warn President Bush Massive New FCC Regulations Will Harm Consumers, Cable Industry
http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=240862

* FCC Cable-Regulation Plan Is at Risk Amid Outside Pressure, Internal Squabbling
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz Amy.Schatz@wsj.com]
As of Monday night, the commissioners were still haggling over details. Drafts of several proposals remained incomplete and one FCC official described negotiations as "a total mess." Monday, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's four fellow commissioners were even "seriously talking about how to not have the meeting at all," another FCC official said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119612584345404695.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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* FCC Could Extend Reach To Cable TV
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
Any action the FCC takes would have little immediate impact on consumer cable bills or carriage issues, but the new study -- and its crucial finding -- is at the center of a raging fight between the cable industry and Martin, who has taken positions unfavorable to cable. FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, known as a friend of consumer groups, a foe of media concentration and a natural ally of Martin's on the proposal -- has expressed doubts, saying Martin is rushing the process. "We should be basing our decision on the facts, not on expediency," Adelstein said last night. "If Adelstein doesn't vote for it, it's going to cause an uproar in our community," said Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal and international affairs at Consumers Union, a watchdog group that advocates cable regulation because it contends that the industry is a largely unchecked monopoly.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR200711...
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REGULATING CABLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Cable companies are media titans, and they should be regulated. Today the Federal Communications Commission can take an important step toward that goal. The FCC can protect consumers by laying down some reasonable rules. They should restrict preferential deals between programmers and the big cable systems. This would allow competing players — like satellite TV and phone companies — to put together attractive packages that would give consumers more choice. The commission should also make it easier and less expensive for independent programmers to lease access on cable systems. The cable industry is too big and too important to be given a regulatory pass.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/opinion/27tue3.html?ref=todayspaper
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