Mediacom Urges FCC to Unbundle

Mediacom asked the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new rules that would prevent volume-based discounts in program carriage deals, insure access to content online, and require the disclosure of rates.

Mediacom said the relationship between programmers and distributors is broken, that the marketplace as it has evolved thanks to Washington is anti-competitive and anti-consumer, and that Washington needs to fix it. It even co-opts some network neutrality language usually used by content providers towards ISPs, saying one thing the FCC needs to do is prevent programmers from blocking or restricting access to online content.

Mediacom wants the FCC to unbundle deals dominated by "six "media giants" who control more than 125 cable nets, including must-have programming. Mediacom is seeking the following new rule regime:

• Give MVPDs an a la carte option for new channels or the most expensive.
• Give MVPDs an unbundling option, with information about other offers and bundles
• Prohibit the blocking or restricting of Internet access to programming as a negotiating tactic in agreements
• Only allow volume discounts if they can be justified through waivers.