Verizon Asks FCC To Ease Video Switch From Cable

Argues Cable Companies Squelch Competition By Ignoring Disconnect Orders

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 3/26/2008 2:00:00 PM

Verizon Communications on Wednesday asked the Federal Communications Commission to require the cable industry to disconnect consumers who switch to a new video provider—in the same way the FCC requires phone providers to disconnect voice services.

In its filing, Verizon said cable operators do not accept disconnect orders from a new video provider, requiring consumers to directly contact their cable company to cancel service.

"This significantly complicates the process of switching video providers, thereby entrenching the cable incumbents' dominant market position," Verizon wrote in the petition, requesting a declaratory ruling.

Verizon’s petition comes after Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks filed a complaint in February with the FCC against the telco, alleging that the phone company has taken improper steps to retain customers that have committed to try cable's voice-over-IP services.

In a separate FCC filing on Monday, Verizon claimed the cable industry delays customer switches to competing voice providers by “regularly failing to meet the commission's timing requirements for local number portability.”

National Cable & Telecommunications Association vice president of communications Brian Dietz, in a prepared statement, said: "Verizon's fairy tale complaint is a lame attempt to deflect criticism from its years-long illegal practice of misusing proprietary information to prevent consumers from switching to a new phone provider.”

Dietz added that Verizon is “looking for a regulatory handout to help them compete, rather than focusing on a customer-friendly approach to providing -- or switching -- service.”

The NCTA claimed that more than 15 million consumers to date have switched to cable phone service.