Cablevision became the latest cable operator to lobby the FCC...

where an unsubsidized company sells service or begins doing so after there’s a USF broadband fund, the company said. The Dec. 31 cutoff proposed in the ILEC-backed USF reform plan “would effectively lock in a subsidy for any area that lacks a competing broadband provider today,” Cablevision recounted executives having told Wireline Bureau staffers and aides to all four FCC members. “Cablevision proposed that the forward-looking cost model proposed to identify high-cost areas and the level of support should be based on the most efficient available terrestrial technology rather than on the incumbents’ costs,” the company said. “In persistently high-cost areas where USF subsidies will remain necessary, we suggested that the Commission mandate portable subsidies that can be used with either the ILEC or a new entrant.” NCTA meanwhile sought “expeditious” USF high-cost support and intercarrier compensation reform, in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the association said. “The Commission should provide certainty regarding the ability of providers to receive compensation for terminating calls, regardless of the technology used by the end user of the call.” NCTA said its executives told an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski of “the importance of ensuring that broadband is deployed to unserved areas as quickly as possible in a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory manner.” Alaskan cable operator GCI also reported meeting with Wireline Bureau officials about its Alaska Broadband Plan, as the agency may vote on a USF and intercarrier comp order on Oct. 27 (CD Sept 27 p1).