Comcast, which is seeking to form country’s largest cable MSO thr...

competition in market for delivery of video programming. Comcast said that in every market it serviced, consumers had choice of at least 3 facilities-based multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), including 2 DBS providers. In other markets, it said, consumers can turn to Knology, RCN Inc. and WideOpenWest and non-MVPD mechanisms, including Internet video streaming and delivery of DVDs by mail, are producing even more competition. “In this environment, notions of ‘monopoly’ and ‘market power’ and ‘dominance’ in video distribution are vestiges of a bygone era,” Comcast said. Company said regulation of cable should remain at “the absolute minimum required by law.” AT&T said substantially same thing -- that competition was vibrant and FCC should reject calls to retain or expand cable regulations “made by certain commenters based on wholly unsubstantiated allegations of anticompetitive conduct.” However, EchoStar said cable operators still dominated market with 78% market share and EchoStar acquisition of DirecTV remained industry’s best hope of bolstering competition. Commission need look no further than to continuing above-inflation cable rate increases for “dispositive proof” of cable dominance and DBS’s current inability to discipline cable, EchoStar said in reply comments. Proposed deal is only way to achieve spectrum efficiencies necessary to create competitive pressure on cable, it said. Despite cable claims that DBS providers face no barriers to expansion, very nature of DBS service prevents unlimited growth, Satellite Bcstg. & Communications Assn. said. Each DBS provider has limited amount of spectrum. Recent Northpoint decision that allows DBS spectrum to be used for terrestrial service may cause increased service interruptions and, as result, DBS may become less viable competitor, SBCA said. It also said FCC rules limited placement of satellite dishes. Northpoint, in its comments, said consumers didn’t have choice in video programming or delivery systems and if EchoStar-DirecTV deal were approved consumers would have even less choice. Northpoint said it could provide competition needed, but Commission has placed unnecessary barrier to entry with lack of prompt and nondiscriminatory licensing. Decision to allocate MVDDS licenses through auction process creates substantial, if not insurmountable, barrier to entry that may jeopardize prospect for any genuine party to deploy MVDDS, Northpoint said. Auctions are crippling tax on new providers, it said. Gemstar-TV Guide told FCC that electronic program guide (EPG) market was “under the threat of anticompetitive extinction” by cable MSOs. AOL Time Warner, for example, has “invaded” broadcast signals to strip out EPG data from vertical blanking interval (VBI), Gemstar said. That represents possibility that consumers will be left with only one choice for EPGs -- that offered by their MVPD provider. “The unrestrained threat of such cable operator activity threatens competition not only in the EPG market, but in the program distribution market itself,” Gemstar said. Company said cable MSOs could use EPGs to make their own programs more “accessible and attractive” to subscribers than other programming options. Cablevision said cable faced vigorous broadband competition from telephone companies and wireless technologies and that FCC shouldn’t hobble one industry in favor of another. OPASTCO said many of its members were victims of predatory pricing by large cable companies, and regulatory burdens were among greatest barriers to successful deployment of new video services. OPASTCO said its members, some of which are small, rural LECs, also face unequal treatment by content providers. National Rural Telecom Co-p (NRTC) told FCC that far fewer homes were passed by cable than either cable or DBS industries had led regulators to believe. Inflating those numbers allows EchoStar and DirecTV to hide impact of their combining on rural customers, NRTC said. As many as 25 million households have no access to cable, it said.