FCC starts cable ownership hearings

The Federal Communications Commission [FCC] has begun hearings on what, if any, cap should be placed on cable subscriber ownership.

As a start, the FCC asked public interest groups and cable companies what they thought the limits should or could be. The hearings are especially compelling in light of two events:

* A U.S. Appeals Court ruling in March that threw out a previous 30% ownership cap and said FCC justification of the figure was “out of thin air” and;

* The efforts within the cable industry—spearheaded by No. 3 cable MSO Comcast—to acquire AT&T’s top-ranked broadband communications unit.

Inherent among the concerns facing the FCC is whether independent programming networks would be able to achieve sufficient penetration to succeed if cable’s interests were tightly consolidated into large ownership groups. Those programmers are generally believed to need a 20% market share to succeed.

—Jim Barthold, senior editor