Program Access Is an Important Part of Broadband Competition

[Commentary] The "program access" rules have been around since 1992, and are responsible for what competition we have in the video space. Without them, cable would be even more monopolistic, if you can believe that. They're still important, and it's disheartening to hear that the Federal Communications Commission might phase them out. These rules say that incumbent cable companies can't withhold the programming they have control over from competitors--if Comcast creates a sports channel, for instance, it has to sell it to DISH and DirecTV. The program access rules thus allow satellite companies, phone companies, and cable "overbuilders" to offer a full line-up of programming and compete in the video space. Why are these rules important? Well, for the most part wholly independent programmers want to sell their programming to any subscription TV provider that can afford it. But when a programmer is controlled by a cable company, the interests of the cable part of the business might be put ahead of the programming part of the business, and the company might decline to make its programming widely available.