Kent Finds Program-Access Loophole
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 4/10/2003 6:42:00 AM
Jerry Kent said his recent decision to buy an optical-network company with a national footprint could help MSOs to avoid federal program-access laws.
Last month, Kent's CEQUEL III agreed to buy Broadwing Inc. in a partnership with Corvis Corp. Broadwing can distribute cable networks over its optical lines to 150 markets.
Federal law forces MSOs to sell their satellite-delivered networks to EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Inc. But since Broadwing is a terrestrial service, cable networks riding on the platform would be exempt from program-access rules.
"It has great potential for the cable industry," Kent, the former Charter Communications Inc. CEO, said Wednesday at an A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. conference in Las Vegas. "The cable industry can develop its own programming and deliver it via our Broadwing network and take programming exclusivity."
Broadwing could trigger a fight in Washington, D.C., where consumer groups and the direct-broadcast satellite industry are always looking for signs that cable might be trying to skirt program-access laws.
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