Publication Type: Media Release
Date: 12/4/2009Contact: Rob Stoddard/Brian Dietz 202-222-2350
WASHINGTON, D.C. – NCTA President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow today applauded the FCC’s release of a Public Notice to explore how it can encourage innovation in video devices and called for the full Commission to open a broader Notice of Inquiry to examine how it can achieve a robust retail marketplace for video devices that work with all video providers (cable, satellite and telco).
In a letter to William Lake, FCC Media Bureau Chief and Carlos Kirchner, Senior Advisor to the Chairman on Broadband, McSlarrow said, “We agree that a fully-competitive retail navigation device market has not yet developed – despite the persistent efforts of the Commission, the cable industry, and consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers. Perhaps more important, even if a retail market had developed, it would have been based on a video landscape that no longer resembles the highly-competitive marketplace of today—a world in which four of the ten largest multichannel video programming distributors are direct broadcast satellite and telephone companies who collectively serve more than 37 million customers.”
“Therefore, a Notice of Inquiry working to develop fresh approaches – especially approaches that cross multiple industry lines – should be pursued in concert with Commission policies that promote competition, innovation and other pro-consumer benefits,” McSlarrow said.
A copy of McSlarrow’s letter is attached.
NCTA is the principal trade association for the U.S. cable industry, representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation's cable television households and more than 200 cable program networks. The cable industry is the nation’s largest broadband provider of high-speed Internet access, serving more than 40 million customers, after investing more than $145 billion to build a two-way interactive network with fiber optic technology. Cable companies also provide state-of-the-art digital telephone service to more than 20 million American consumers.
Attachment: McSlarrow letter to FCC 120409.pdf (61 KB)