Zoom, Charter Push on Cable Modem Rules Proposal
The condition on Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks on provision of a low-income broadband service, including free cable modems, doesn't contradict a general prohibition on requiring such modems to have a separate line item…
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and come at nonsubsidized prices for other consumers, Zoom Telephonics said. In an FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 16-42, Zoom recapped a phone call between President-CEO Frank Manning and an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai in which Zoom said the basic premise behind the condition, to expand broadband deployment to this group, justifies allowing subsidized pricing. Zoom also argued for the need for nonsubsidized pricing along with the line item. Charter lobbied against the line item and unsubsidized price requirements in the FCC set-top box proceeding (see 1609210030). In its own ex parte filing, Charter said Senior Vice President-Policy and External Affairs Alex Hoehn-Saric met with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to say a cable modem line item "is legally flawed" and fails the FCC's goal of more transparency to consumers.