Tackling Pole Attachment Costs Needs to Be Regulatory Priority, ACA Says; TDS Still Adding Video Subs

the weekend and was posted online. Added TDS Senior Vice President-Corporate Affairs Drew Petersen, "It's not a glamorous issue," but such attachments can cost close to $40 per pole in rural areas requiring multiple poles, adding up to a significant financial hurdle to deployment. While 5G holds big promise, it likely won't be deployed in rural and suburban areas for years, said Petersen, an ACA board member. Polka said continued deployment of broadband -- including obtaining the financing and recouping costs -- is the biggest challenge facing cable ISPs. He said the FCC Communications Act Title II broadband service rollback opened the door to companies being more innovative in how they recoup those costs. He said as the country considers infrastructure-related spending or proceedings, broadband needs to be kept in mind. Petersen said TDS' most expensive portion of business is its fiber footprint, followed by access to video content. He said it has seen "some" cord cutting, though subscription VOD is largely complementary. TDS, which operates in 31 states, is expanding video subscriber numbers through bringing in IP-based video via its fiber network, Petersen said. Since cable operators are increasingly broadband-centric, whether "American Cable Association" is an outdated name "is a question we ask ourselves all the time," Polka said: "Our members are broadband forward" and ACA's board considered a name change a couple years ago, though it opted to keep the moniker because of its familiarity. Asked about AT&T buying Time Warner, Petersen said the urge to grow through deals is understandable, but smaller MVPDs and their subscribers end up paying higher prices for content to make up for the favorable terms and conditions big, merged companies are able to secure. Polka said Sinclair/Tribune should be denied even with divestitures of some stations.