June 27, 2012

Powell’s Take—Antitrust Allegations Wrong, New Regulatory Regime Needed

NCTA Chief Michael Powell is ready to vigorously defend the cable industry at the House Telecom subcmte “Future of Video” hearing Wed. Claims that cable ops would use their control over broadband nets to stifle online video are “simply not borne out by the facts,” he said at a pre-hearing briefing Tues. He also emphasized the need to re-examine legacy rules and regulations affecting the cable carriage of broadcast signals like must carry, retrans, and non-duplication rights.

Also in the June 27 issue of CableFAX Daily:

During Wed’s hearing on future of video, look for Netflix’s gen counsel David Hyman to make clear its stance that issues like data usage caps and IP interconnection must be examined “with a much more discerning eye.” The hearing starts at 10am ET and will be on C-SPAN3 as well as c-span.org.

When it comes to emerging networks, Fox Movie Channel is hands down the channel viewers are most interested in viewing, according to the latest Beta Research study. See the study results in today’s issue.

Vivendi plans to appeal a nearly $1bln verdict in Liberty Media’s suit against it over its stake in USA.