Whining Allowed: Cable's Competitors Complain to Commission

It’s always a little fun to wade through the FCC filings on the state of video competition, if only to figure out what has satellite and telco panties in a wad. One of the most consistently funny whiners is EchoStar, which fired a shot at Comcast in its most recent missive: "Cable MSOs have taken new initiatives in the programming area, such as the hockey rights recently acquired by the cable-controlled Outdoor Life Network, … that threaten to erode further what should be the cornerstone of MVPD competition—fair and nondiscriminatory access to programming." Considering that DISH Net still doesn’t have the rights to carry OLN’s NHL games because it’s not offering the net to 40% of its sub base, we expect to hear Charlie & the Dishhead Factory opine on this for some time. Other highlights: Verizon tries to justify its build-out strategy. "No cable companies suggest that they should be required to build out to offer voice service to every customer in an ILEC’s service area." SBC has a slightly different take: Cable suggests streaming Internet video and mobile video providers are or soon will be significant competitors, "yet these providers are exempt from franchise and build-out requirements, and, at least to date, the incumbents have not argued that it should be otherwise." And then our favorite, from the over-the-airhead assn, casts doubt on ACA claims that cash-for-carriage would cost independent operators $1bln over 3 years. "[That’s] fanciful at best."