FCC Chief Taking Cable-Industry Fight to Final Bell

FCC CHIEF TAKING CABLE-INDUSTRY FIGHT TO FINAL BELL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz Amy.Schatz@wsj.com]
Cable companies are preparing for another knock-down fight with the Federal Communications Commission and its chairman, Kevin Martin, to fend off new agency efforts to rein in the industry. Chairman Martin says something needs to be done to bring cable rates down, and he has tried in several ways as chairman to make that happen, albeit with limited success. He has indicated he intends to stay until a new administration takes over, so the cable industry now faces a raft of new proposals and inquiries.
Mr. Martin's efforts over the past few years to persuade the cable industry to sell channels to consumers individually instead of in tiered bundles haven't been successful. He might have more luck this year, at least at the wholesale level, with a proposal designed to unbundle cable programming by requiring that channels be sold individually to cable operators. The cable industry remains divided on the issue. Networks and programmers are unhappy about the idea. Some smaller cable operators favor it, believing it may give them an edge in negotiations and lead to lower costs. The FCC also may propose mandating which technology is applied in the next generation of plug-and-play equipment, which is intended to bypass the set-top box and make more televisions cable-ready. It also may push to increase rates that cable companies pay to attach their lines and equipment to poles throughout the country.
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