Saturday, March 15,2008 @ 3:20pm
Comcast sues FCC over 30% market cap
Comcast recently issued a lawsuit to the FCC over a pending decision, which would institute a 30-percent cap for cable's share of multichannel-video providers. Comcast, the largest cable provider in the US, currently sits at 27-percent, according to Broadcasting and Cable. David Cohen, executive vice president for Comcast, said in an interview, "the record at the FCC provided absolutely no support for a horizontal ownership cap of 30% -- a position that has been supported by the courts."
"In an era of increased and intensifying competition among telephone, satellite and cable companies," he continues, "the case for a 30% cap is even weaker than when the courts rejected it six years ago."
Cohen considers the move to show favor to telco companies, citing the AT&T and Bell mergers that have happened in the past three years.