Did Martin Flunk A Cable Math Quiz?

DID MARTIN FLUNK A CABLE MATH QUIZ?
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
In his haste to exert more authority over cable by invoking the so-called 70/70 test, set out in 1984 legislation, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin might have tripped over some bad data. The source on which he relied for his results says its data cannot be wholly relied on. Chairman Martin obtained his 70% result by relying solely on data culled from the Television and Cable Factbook, published annually by Warren Communications News. In the past, the agency's analysis included not just Warren but two other outside sources and its own annual cable price survey. But Warren chairman and publisher Paul Warren said Wednesday that his company’s data is incomplete. Why? Not all cable operators agree to disclose their subscriber and homes passed totals for its survey. “As a result, even though we believe we have data representing more than 96% of all cable subscribers, this data is not well suited to determining whether the [FCC’s 70/70] threshold has been met,” Warren said in a statement. According to Warren data, cable penetration is 71.4%, more than enough to trigger FCC authority but higher than past results that put cable penetration no higher than 68%. Last year, the FCC’s report on video competition put cable’s penetration at 59.6% of homes passed nationally, well under the threshold. The idea that Chairman Martin is presenting -- that cable penetration rose in a year when cable operators lost about 200,000 customers and satellite TV providers gained 1.8 million -- did not sit well with his fellow Republican FCC members Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate. The commissioners on Nov. 14 jointly sent a letter to Warren requesting “any and all information” it provided to the FCC.
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