Telco/Cable War Heating Up

TELCO/CABLE WAR HEATING UP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
At the Cable Television Public Affairs Association Forum in Washington, National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow, referring to some of the negative TV ads that he said the telcos were spending $2 million a week on, said, "There's an easy way and a hard way. If they want to do knife fights, I can do knife fights." He would "much prefer" to work it out in a more positive way (he said later he "probably should not have used" the "knife" phrase). That said, he also added that "you'll see some negative ads" from the cable side as well. The current battleground is Congress' rewrite of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which is expected to include video franchise reform that will ease telcos' entry into video service as a way also to speed the rollout of broadband (high-speed Internet service) nationwide, and to provide additional price and service competition to cable. McSlarrow says NCTA favors franchise reform as well, so long as it applies to both cable and telcos equitably. He would give no specifics, by McSlarrow said he saw some progress with House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) in leavening some of the more problematic issues in a proposed video franchising bill, which McSlarrow does not feel is equitable, and has in fact called "a "huge step backwards in the wrong direction."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6317527?display=Breaking+News

* Verizon Files FCC Complaint Against Cablevision
Verizon has filed a program access complaint with the FCC to try and force Cablevision to negotiate a carriage agreement so that Verizon's FiOS TV multichannel video service can carry what it says are various Cablevision-controlled sports channels in New York and New England.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6317390?display=Breaking+News