FCC OKs Cable Operators Emailing of Annual Notifications
A declaratory ruling approved by the FCC commissioners allowing cable operators to electronically send customers annual notices doesn't differ notably from the draft released earlier this month (see 1706010049), an official told us. The one tweak was in language on…
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notices for customers opting out of email notification, we were told. The item -- responding to a 2016 petition by NCTA and the American Cable Association (see 1603080052) -- had been on the agenda for Thursday's meeting, but the agency said in a Monday public notice it was voted on circulation. The approved text wasn't posted Monday. The agency official said the item -- on circulation for some time -- was put on the agenda to force a vote, and commissioners then opted to deal with it on circulation for the sake of streamlining Thursday's meeting. Under the draft, cable operators' required annual notices to subscribers -- such as notices about services offered, pricing, and installation and service maintenance policies -- could be sent to a verified email address instead of delivered via hard copies. That verified email address is one cable customers gave to cable operators and that the customer has verified as the appropriate one for notice delivery, said the draft. The draft also specified that each notice had to come with a phone number for opting out of email notification at any time by choosing to receive paper copies of the annual notices. NCTA pushed for allowing electronic dissemination of other types of customer notifications, not just annual notices (see 1706130007), but that language wasn't incorporated in the ruling, the FCC official said. NCTA didn't comment.