Pushback on '70/70’ Form
Small Operators Claim That New Paperwork Is a Burdensome
by John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 2/23/2009 2:00:00 AM
Washington — Cable operators have told the Federal Communications Commission that its proposed new data-collection form on cable competition would be an unnecessarily onerous route to the same destination — determining that the industry has not reached the “70/70” threshold that could trigger new government regulation.
The 70/70 test refers to a provision in the 1992 Cable Act that authorized the FCC to determine whether cable systems with at least 36 channels are available to 70% of U.S. households, and whether 70% of households with access to such systems are subscribers. If that threshold is reached, the agency could “promulgate any additional rules necessary to provide diversity of information sources,” federal law provides.
In a filing with the FCC on Feb. 17, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said that “no survey is necessary to prove that a variety of competitors have substantially eroded and continue to erode — the share of the video-distribution marketplace that traditional cable operators serve.”
The FCC came to that same basic conclusion in January, releasing a long-overdue report that concluded that while cable does pass more than 70% of households — a fact cable readily concedes — it had not met the second part of that test, which is that 70% of those households subscribe to cable.
The figure is something below 60%, said the NCTA.
Under then-chairman Kevin Martin, the FCC tentatively concluded that the 70/70 test had been met, but based the conclusion on a single source of data. That conclusion never reached the report after it was widely criticized. But in releasing the report Jan. 16, just as Martin was heading for the exit, the FCC proposed a new form that would collect more data, including from smaller cable operators.
The NCTA said that would be an unnecessary burden on smaller operators.
“Even if every household passed by cable systems with fewer than 20,000 subscribers subscribed to those systems, cable penetration would still be well below the 70% threshold,” the NCTA said.
The American Cable Association, which represents independent operators, agreed that the added paperwork was a “significant financial and administrative burden” at a time when its smaller members didn’t need the drain on their limited resources.
“Providing the historical data being sought by the commission will be impossible for many smaller cable systems, and very expensive and time consuming for others,” ACA president Matt Polka said in a statement.
The NCTA also said the form’s request for data on unoccupied and seasonal homes is the wrong way to go, and not as easily collected as the FCC suggests.
It also is concerned about the form’s request for figures on total subscribers as well as video subscribers. Including phone and Internet customers in the reporting mix wouldn’t be relevant to the 70/70 test, which measures video competition.
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