Telco resists DTV notifications on phone bills

TELCO RESISTS DTV NOTIFICATIONS ON PHONE BILLS
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
A major phone company threw the book at a proposal to require incumbent telcos to provide consumers with information about the upcoming DTV transition in their telephone and cable bills. Qwest's December 12th filing with the Federal Communications Commission claims the idea will cause "customer confusion" and violate the First Amendment. "Any notice about changes in broadcast television signals should come from sources that have a reasonable, logical connection to the issue," a rep from Qwest explained to an advisor to Commissioner Robert McDowell that day. "In this instance, that could include, e.g., broadcasters, cable and satellite television providers, and manufacturers of television sets." The FCC's Consumer Advisory Council wants telephone companies include information about the transition on their customer bills, but at an August 10th CAC meeting, a representative from Verizon strongly resisted this suggestion. Now Qwest is fighting it as well.
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/526