NCTA Might Support National Video Franchising for Telecom
The NCTA may consider backing a national franchising standard in telecom legislation that would address regulations on how cable and telcos compete in selling bundled services. NCTA chief Kyle McSlarrow said his push for regulatory parity between phone and cable companies may share features with a Mon. proposal (CD June 7 p1) by Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska).
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McSlarrow may get support for removing some curbs on cable pricing by compromising with Stevens, analysts say. Stevens wants federal rules to apply to 30,000-plus local franchises, which would speed Bells’ sale of video service.
“To the extent that he’s talking about a national framework, that’s essentially the same” as what NCTA wants, McSlarrow said after a speech to the Washington Metropolitan Cable Club. “This may be the first time this has been articulated… we do need a level playing field.”
McSlarrow has not met with Stevens on the issue, he said. NCTA officials said McSlarrow’s remarks don’t signal a policy shift, but the laying of groundwork for a bid to obtain like treatment for similar services from cable and telecom companies.
SBC, which plans to sell bundled services of its own by next year, reacted favorably to McSlarrow’s remarks. The telco already is reselling EchoStar’s service.
“We welcome cable’s call for a national policy that promotes broadband investment and competitive choice,” said spokesman Michael Balmoris. Consumers would benefit “by doing away with outdated rules that hamstring new competitors with legacy burdens,” he said.
By supporting more favorable franchise rules for telephone firms, cable stands to win congressional concessions of its own, say analysts, including Legg Mason managing director Blair Levin.
“The cable industry has a very good record of being able to articulate the public interest in a way that is convergent with their own,” said Levin, former chief of staff to then FCC Chmn. Reed Hundt. MSOs are “figuring out the prevailing winds and then sailing boats to their destination,” he said.
Legislators should end regulation of basic cable and equipment rates, McSlarrow urged. Cable might get that deregulation in exchange for supporting national franchise rules, said Stanford Washington Research Group analyst Paul Gallant.
“Cable could be persuaded to support a bill that included streamlined franchise rules if the bill also had some attractive deregulation in it,” said Gallant, another former FCC staffer.
The NCTA does not support a federally mandated tier of family programming because there is not sufficient consumer demand, McSlarrow said. His speech was one of his first public appearances since being named NCTA head in March.