FCC Open Meeting in DC on Friday re AT&T/BellSouth, Net Neutrality et al
Anyone in the DC area on Friday who has or can make the time to attend this open meeting of the FCC should please attend. As of right now (but this can change) the AT&T BellSouth Merger is on the agenda along with the question of Net Neutrality. This is an important meeting since if the FCC succeeds in moving the Net Neutrality issue into “Inquiry” status and out of the realm of AT&T Merger Conditions, then, according to Feld of Public Knowledge, Martin will have his majority for the merger.
Art’s analysis has a lot to commend it. For one thing, without offering the Democrats something, it may be very hard for Martin to get his merger through. Commissioner McDowell, the third Republican in the five-member Commission, would like to recuse himself from the AT&T/BS merger because his old outfit Comptel is pressing heavily for conditions. So although McDowell signalled in the Adelphia merger last summer he would vote with Martin against any new network neutrality conditions, McDowell would prefer not to cast such a vote in the pending Bell merger. Shifting the network neutrality piece to a separate proceeding gives Martin his 3-2 majority again, without asking McDowell to participate in a proceeding in which he would prefer to recuse himself.There is, however, one interesting piece of the equation that opens the door for potential leverage. As Art observed in a different post, the cable companies are discovering that a world without network neutrality creates its own set of problems. The ability to mess with competing VOIP services hurts all new entrants, including cable operators. The telcos are no slouches when it comes to using their market power and intrinsic network advanatges. For the first time, the cable companies find themselves facing an opponent just as nasty, just as anticompetitive, and just as entrenched as themselves.
Another item on the bill is the annual report on the state of Cable Competition. According to Feld at Public Knowledge, “Public interest groups, no surprise, would like to see the FCC find that cable has passed the 70/70 threshold and start seeing some serious regulatin’ of cable market power. Cable companies, of course, maintain that they are magically just below the limit and will always remain so, depsite continued subscriber growth. The spoiler in this is the telcos, who want to see cable regulated so they can get access to needed programming (and hope to leverage this to get out of local franchising). If Martin really wants cable a la carte, then finding that cable has met the 70/70 test is the way to go. Nothing else can give the FCC the authority to impose a la carte without Congressional action.”
I may possibly make the 5 hour drive myself. I’ll be interested to see the individuals who have the power to turn off our ability to speak freely and sell it down the pike to the big business interests.
Technorati Tags: AT&T BellSouth Merger, FCC, Net Neutrality, Cable Competition
