Ending Cable Rate Regulation Top Priority for NCTA
Cable operators, preparing for telecom and franchise law rewrites, have set rate deregulation on basic cable and equipment rates as a top legislative priority, NCTA Pres. Kyle McSlarrow said. Facing potential congressional action on national franchising later this year, the industry doesn’t need to make concessions that would harm cable operators to get what it wants, McSlarrow told us after speaking to the Media Institute in Washington.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
McSlarrow said he has made his case with Sen. Ensign (R-Nev.), who plans to introduce a bill in July to address some revisions to the 1996 Telecom Act (CD June 22 p3). McSlarrow, who also has met with Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska), said one of the next steps is for interested parties to discuss telecom reform. Those include Bells such as SBC, which wants to provide pay TV, as well as cable. “We all agree that we should sit down in a room and talk about these issues,” said McSlarrow. “The devil’s in the details.”
At least one analyst was skeptical of legislative reform occurring soon. “Getting a bill out and signed is going to be fairly difficult,” said Precursor Group’s Pat Brogan. “If one side is starting to get momentum, I imagine the other side is going to come in and ask for what it wants, and I think that is what makes it harder to get legislation.”
A former FCC staffer disagreed. “They have a good shot at getting meaningful deregulation as part of a video franchise bill, such as rate relief,” said Stanford Washington Research Group analyst Paul Gallant. The NCTA says 3-7% of cable customers buy only basic cable and are subject to complete rate regulation. McSlarrow may support a national franchise system in exchange for regulatory parity with the Bells, he has said (CD June 8 p1).