Stifel Nicolaus: FCC likely to require Comcast to unbundle data service

The FCC is likely to impose a data service unbundling requirement as a condition of the Comcast-NBCU joint venture, Stifel Nicolaus analysts said in a research note issued yesterday. The requirement would force Comcast to offer cable modem service as a stand-alone offering without requiring customers to also purchase video or voice service. According to Stifel, Comcast would have to offer the stand-alone data offering for three years, and the initial price would be $49.95 a month for 6 Mb/s downstream service.

In late December FCC officials told reporters that Chairman Julius Genachowski had drafted an order approving the joint venture with certain conditions. Although the officials did not provide details about what those conditions might be, but they did say that programming and availability issues pertaining to on-line content would be among the conditions.

An opportunity for OTT video?

As the Stifel researchers speculate, the obligatory data unbundling could open up further residential use of over-the-top video content and video cord cutting. The success of OTT options could depend, in large part, on how far the FCC goes in imposing conditions related to content availability.

The FCC will not take action on the Comcast-NBCU joint venture until all five commissioners have the opportunity to vote on it. In December, FCC officials said the commissioners might vote on the drafted order as early as the next monthly meeting, scheduled for January 25. But as of now the topic does not appear on the January meeting agenda.