Martin Expects No December Meeting Vote on USF, Intercarrier Comp Revamp
A vote is unlikely on intercarrier compensation and Universal Service Fund overhaul at the FCC’s Dec. 18 meeting, Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters Tuesday after he spoke at a Phoenix Center telecom symposium. But he left open the possibility that the FCC could act while he still is chairman at its January meeting. Martin said the FCC may act in December on rules for the AWS-3 and 700 MHz D-block auctions. He also said Comcast could face fines or other penalties for failing to respond adequately to a request by the commission for information on the policies of cable companies switching to digital (CD Nov 18 p7).
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In his speech, Martin said the FCC’s failure to approve intercarrier compensation and USF overhauls was a “significant missed opportunity” and making changes will be a “difficult challenge” for a future commission. Scheduling a vote in December would be “very difficult,” he said. “I'm not sure I see logistically how that works.”
Martin blamed other FCC members for any delay. “The other commissioners have all said how critical it is for them to get an item three weeks in advance, which we've been consistently doing,” he said. “One of the problems with trying to do a further notice . . . is you can’t do a further notice and get the comment and reply comment cycle done in time to still put an item on the [eighth] floor in three weeks advance of December 18.” He said of his fellow commissioners, “They were the ones who wanted to make sure we put it out for comment, we did the comment and reply comment time frames that they wanted in the item.” Asked if a January vote is possible, Martin replied, “I have proposed that the commission try to address it. I think it’s important that the commission try to find a way.”
Martin said a vote on the D-block auction remains possible in December or January. He also said he would like the FCC to make a decision on the AWS-3 auction seeking a company to offer free broadband. Asked if he planned a vote on AWS-3 while still chairman, he replied, “I would like to, as I've said for months, if I can just get the commissioners to engage on it.” Asked if FCC Democrats may want to delay a vote until the next administration, he replied, “You'd have to ask them.”
Martin said he hasn’t decided when to leave the FCC. He reminded reporters of the departure of Chairman William Kennard eight years ago. “I think it’s important to put it in context,” Martin said. Kennard saw through a vote on the AOL-Time Warner deal and must-carry rules, he said. “Both of those were done in January and then he announced he was resigning, I think January 12, and [that] he was resigning a week later. I don’t have any plans yet and I'm still focused on trying to make sure we're getting as much done as I can.” He joked with reporters, “I know I'll miss being with you guys all the time.”
Martin said the FCC is still reviewing responses from cable companies to letters the commission sent last month. The letters responded to complaints that some operators in effect increased prices for programming by offering fewer analog channels when they moved networks to digital and that, to get the programming, consumers must pay more for digital set-top boxes.
Comcast provided the “least responsive” answers of any operator, Martin said. “They didn’t even answer the questions directly,” he said. “They had a narrative. . . . When we get complaints from consumers and we begin those investigations and we ask factual questions, I think the commission has a reasonable expectation that people will provide factual answers back.” Martin said cable companies that didn’t provide adequate responses “will be subject to the commission’s enforcement actions as they always are.”
A Comcast spokeswoman said Tuesday the company provided the information it could, but collecting full data from all 6,000 franchises over three years would have required an estimated 4,500 hours. “We did submit a response to the FCC,” the spokesman said. “We take the FCC’s data gathering very seriously and we . . . have made every attempt to answer their information request in a timely and cooperative manner.”