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Comcast isn't telling the truth about cable competition, says CPUC staff

20 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Comcast continues to loudly claim that its proposed merger with Time-Warner Cable and market swap with Charter Communications would not be anti-competitive because it doesn’t compete with either company. Cable operators are geographically separated and overbuilding each other is not economically feasible, Comcast says, so mixing and merging would have no effect on competition.

That’s false, according to a motion filed with the California Public Utilities Commission by its own office of ratepayer advocates (ORA). In the process of going through millions of documents that Comcast and its cohorts have given to the CPUC and the FCC for confidential review, ORA has found, it says, three items that prove that Comcast plans to sell television service via the Internet – over the top (OTT) – that, by its very nature, is not geographically limited…

The significance of these documents cannot be underestimated as they show that competitive entry into the OTT services market can now be accomplished without overbuilding, and therefore, the economic barrier to an OTT service provider entering into an incumbent provider’s operating area, such as Comcast competing head to head against TWC and vice versa, disappears…

The bottom line is that OTT is another example of Comcast using its control of telecommunications facilities to leverage ancillary markets.

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CPUC commissioners say no back room deals for Comcast

18 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Don’t even think about going there.

Responding to fears that the CPUC would grant Comcast its wish and cut a deal in private to approve its proposed mega merger and market swap with Time-Warner and Charter, several commissioners publicly said no way at their meeting in San Francisco last week.

Carla Peterman is the commissioner assigned to manage the merger review process. She said she’s following the commission’s ex parte rules which strictly limit one-on-one discussions…

Someone expressed some concern that some parties might have unique access through the ex parte process to kind of negotiate or influence decisions and particularly there was a mention of the Comcast Time-Warner proceeding.

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Californian conditions on Comcast merger may be trumped by FCC

17 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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The ref seems okay with it.

Comcast correctly anticipated the details of the FCC’s Internet common carrier ruling when it objected to conditions that a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge wants to slap on its mega merger and market swap with Time-Warner and Charter. In its response to the CPUC’s proposed decision, Comcast said…

The [CPUC] Proposed Decision directly conflicts with this new federal policy by imposing a host of requirements pertaining to rates, service terms, and wholesale offerings, as well as burdensome reporting obligations…These are necessarily interstate offerings, and as such, the [CPUC] is preempted under long-established principles of federal law from regulating broadband services in the ways suggested in the Proposed Decision.

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If you like the status quo you'll love the FCC's new Internet rules

16 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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I thought you didn’t want anything to change?

Some questions about common carrier Internet rules were answered, some were, again, left hanging in the FCC’s 400-page decision released on Thursday. Here’s the rundown on the five key questions I highlighted last month…

Muni broadband systems – the new rules don’t specifically address publicly-owned ISPs, but taken together with the FCC’s decision to preempt state restrictions on muni broadband, it’s pretty clear that there’s no exemption.… More

FCC decision says state laws must treat muni and private ISPs the same

15 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Only Washington can level the playing field.

Municipal broadband initiatives either have to be banned altogether by state law or allowed the same latitude to conduct business that the FCC gives private Internet service providers. That’s the core of the FCC’s decision, released last Thursday, to preempt state-imposed restrictions on publicly-owned broadband systems in Tennessee and North Carolina…

A different question would be presented if we were asked to preempt…a law that goes to a state’s power to withhold altogether the authority to provide broadband.

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New FCC Internet rules differentiate by service, not technology

14 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Everyone is on the same common carrier track.

The new, common carrier rules released on Thursday by the FCC apply to all Internet service providers, including mobile, satellite, fixed wireless, telephone and cable companies. There’s some fine tuning where technical details are concerned, particularly regarding mobile broadband companies, but for the most part, Internet service is Internet service, regardless of technology.

As promised, the new rules specifically state that no blocking, no throttling and no paid prioritisation by ISPs will be allowed.… More

FCC muni broadband decision relies on a wobbly position

13 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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This isn’t the first time the feds have fought in Chattanooga.

There was no doubt that the FCC would vote two weeks ago to pre-empt state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that restrict the ability of local governments – the cities of Chattanooga and Wilson respectively – to get into the broadband business. Both U.S. president Barack Obama and FCC chairman Tom Wheeler promised it was coming. And there’s no shortage of reasons to do it (or not).… More

Let's settle this behind closed doors Comcast tells CPUC

12 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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If it was good enough for PG&E, it should be swell for Comcast.

Comcast, and its would-be merger and market swap partners, don’t like any of the conditions that would be imposed on the deal, if a proposed decision by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge is approved. Not surprisingly, in a 60 page objection, the so-called Joint Applicants – Comcast and friends might be a better description – run through the 25 conditions proposed conditions and find fault with every one.… More

Debate continues over whether proposed Comcast merger benefits outweigh the damage

11 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not expecting time off for good behavior.

Ten organisations filed comments about a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge’s proposed decision regarding the Comcast/Time-Warner/Charter Communications mega-merger and market swap. Seven want the deal killed altogether, and argue that the mostly temporary conditions proposed would not offset the damage done to broadband service in California. The Greenlining Institute, a consumer advocacy group, detailed Comcast’s obstreperous response to the draft decision and said…

While the proposed conditions are well-intended, they simply cannot rehabilitate a merger which would hand Comcast a potentially permanent monopoly in virtually all of the largest markets in both California and the United States, giving Comcast unprecedented power to raise prices, decrease service quality, and harm consumers.

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Deny the Comcast merger, don't try to fix it with conditions urges CPUC ratepayer advocates

10 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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If it’s that broke, trash it.

Comments are coming thick and fast regarding the proposed decision by a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) administrative law judge to approve, with conditions, the mega-merger and market swap between Comcast, Time-Warner and Charter Communications. I’m still working my way through the stack – the CPUC posted the documents yesterday – but one of the filings, from the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates (ORA) jumps out.

As it has all along, ORA is urging outright rejection of the transactions…

As the [proposed decision (PD)] correctly concludes, the Joint Applicants [i.e.

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