Working for a Waiver

Charter‘s strategy in seeking a waiver from the integration ban for low-cost set tops includes tapping the FCC‘s desire to increase broadband deployment to rural areas. A waiver "is critical to the success of the digital transition and broadband deployment in the small-town and rural America communities served by Charter," wrote pres/CEO Neil Smit in a Wed letter to FCC chmn Kevin Martin. Smit argues in the letter that 75% of the MSO’s systems meet the FCC’s definition of a small system, and claims that most of Charter’s systems pass an avg of 55 homes/mile, or "a low density that is more characteristic of a rural system."