FCC Gives Green Light To Telephone Companies To Deploy Cable Services

The FCC approved new rules easing the way for telephone companies to enter the cable television market. The voting went along party lines, with the three Republican commissioners favoring the measure and the two Democrats opposing it.

The result was expected, as was the applause from Verizon Communications and AT&T, both of which stand to gain from the new rules. Both firms have been deploying fiber optic cable networks in their respective territories. The fiber optic networks that are more robust than existing cable nets.

Leading the vote was FCC Chairman Kevin Martin who cited rapidly rising fees for existing cable service; he said the new rules will help stimulate competition and will help video service providers overrule localities from impeding new service. Martin said competition is "desperately needed" in the emerging video market.

"As new providers began actively seeking entry into video markets," he said, "we began to hear that some local authorities were making the process of getting franchises unreasonable difficult."

Opposing the rules, Commissioner Michael Copps said he favored rules that will enable local authorities deal with the "huge companies" that are entering the cable and video markets.

Arguing that the U.S. needs a national strategy to provide nationwide broadband, Copps noted that the nation is ranked 21st among nations with broadband, according to the International Telecommunications Union's Digital Opportunity Index, which measures Internet access using 11 indicators.

"Right now," he said, "this nation is hobbled because it has no such strategy, no plan for the infrastructure build-out our people need to be productive and competitive citizens of the world."