NTIA: New Data-Collection on Competition is Unnecessary, Burdensome

Cable operators have told the Federal Communications Commission that its proposed new data-collection form on cable competition would be an un-necessarily burdensome route to the same destination, which is that cable has not reached the so-called 70/70 threshold that could trigger new government regulation of the industry. In a filing with the FCC Tuesday, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said that "No survey is necessary to prove that a variety of competitors have substantially eroded and continue to erode - the share of the video distribution marketplace that traditional cable operators serve." The FCC came to that same basic conclusion in January, releasing a long-overdue report that concluded that while cable does pass more than 70% of households-a fact cable readily concedes-it had not met the second part of that test, which is that 70% of those households subscribe to cable. The figure is something below 60%, said NCTA.