FCC Plans Road Trip to Keller By Ted Hearn MultiChannel News
2/3/2006 7:11:00 PM http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6304866.html The Federal Communications Commission is going on a road trip next Friday to Keller, Texas, in an effort to highlight video competition between new entrant Verizon Communications Inc. and cable incumbent Charter Communications Inc. The FCC's monthly open meeting will be held Feb. 10 in Keller, a suburb of Dallas. The meeting's agenda will include the release of the agency's annual cable-competition report. The commission rarely leaves its Washington, D.C., headquarters to hold a meeting where policies are debated and votes cast. In early 2003, the agency held a public forum in Richmond, Va., leading up to the adoption of new and controversial media-ownership rules in June. And in September, Martin moved the meeting to Atlanta for a status report on the health of telecommunications networks following Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the GulfCoast region. Over the past decade, the cable report has documented a market that has grown increasingly competitive, capped by the rapid rise of direct-broadcast satellite carriers DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp., which serve 27 million subscribers combined. But rising nominal cable rates have caused Verizon and AT&T Inc. to complain that DBS competition is insufficient and to ask Congress for regulatory relief through relaxed local-franchising requirements. Verizon launched its Verizon FiOS TV video service in Keller in September. The company claimed that it has reached 21% penetration after four months and Charter has slashed its rates. Phone-company entry into cable had been tried before, but with little success. "It is fitting that the FCC meet in the inaugural market of Verizon FiOS Internet and FiOS TV services," the regional Bell operating company said in a prepared statement. "Keller is the first place where a phone company offered consumers a real choice to cable television," Verizon added. "After only a few months, 21% of our Keller landline customers have ordered FiOS TV. Those who stick with cable are benefiting, too, because prices dropped when Verizon entered the market. That's competition, and consumers love it." ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
