House Leaders Back Cable in FCC Fight

Barton, Upton Denounce Martin’s Support for a la Carte Regulations

By Steve Donohue -- Multichannel News, 4/24/2007 12:24:00 PM MT

Two key leaders in the House of Representatives are denouncing Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin’s call for mandated a la carte programming tiers and other regulations that could hurt cable operators.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Martin, Reps. Joe Barton (R-Mich.)., member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, and Fred Upton (R-Mich.), member of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, also told the FCC chairman they are concerned that he is circulating proposals for multicast must-carry, which could require operators to deploy digital set-tops in every home.

“Reports indicate that the dual-carriage proposal also implicates the deployment of cable set-top boxes into consumers’ homes. That is something that not all consumers want and a proposition made more expensive by the integrated set-top box ban,” Barton and Upton wrote.

The two representatives also scolded Martin for revisiting a possible 30% horizontal cable-system-ownership cap -- an idea that they noted was shot down by a Federal Appeals Court in 2001.

In a noteworthy lobbying achievement for the cable industry -- which has encouraged pro-competition policies -- Barton and Upton told Martin the best approach to regulation is “to ensure that free markets flourish.”

“We are disturbed that with respect to the cable industry, you appear to be marking proposals that are leading the commission precisely down the road of intrusive regulation when it is least justified,” the two representatives wrote.

Asked for a response to the letter Tuesday, an FCC spokesman said, “We are reviewing it.”