DISQUS

Berin Szoka · 1 year ago

One wonders whether the delay might have something to do with Comcast's pending challenge to the 30% cap issued by the FCC last December on the share of the U.S. market any one cable company can serve. The DC Circuit struck down as unconstitutional precisely the same 30% cap back in 2001 saying while a 60% limit might be justifiable, a 30% limit was not. Briefs on that issue (including an amicus brief from PFF) are expected to be due this fall. Over the last seven years, the argument for such a cap as a check on the "gatekeeper" power of cable operators to control content has steadily weakened. Satellite television has continued to erode cable's once dominant market position, while fiber-to-the-home services like Verizon's FIOS have emerged as a third video pipe. The Internet itself has emerged as yet a fourth distribution platform for television programming, as a variety of services now offer consumers a competitive substitute for cable: access to an astonishing amount of TV programing a-la-carte-by-show directly on their television sets using devices like the Netflix Roku box and gaming consoles like the MS XBox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3.

Unfortunately, until FCC releases the apparently embargoed video competition report, the Court won't have access to what it would consider the most authoritative assessment of the state of competition in the video marketplace. Given the increasing competitiveness of that marketplace, denying the court access to that data can only help conceal the constitutional weakness of the FCC's outdated cap.

cordblomquist · 1 year ago

Can Comcast bring suit against the FCC for withholding such information? For once I'd like to see some lawyers in action! Comcast ought to be suing the FCC on the BitTorrent issue and on this report withholding.