^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

FCC Chairman Announces Plans for Cable TV-Internet Access Proceeding

Federal Communications Chairman William E. Kennard announced that he will propose that the FCC open a formal proceeding on the issue of whether regulation is needed to ensure that multiple internet service providers have access to a cable system operator's platform. Chairman Kennard's announcement was made on the home page of the FCC's internet site. In his announcement, the Chairman expressed his preference for an open cable platform to be achieved through market forces.

The standards used for interconnecting cable television systems with internet service providers will play a major role in implementing any policy developed by the FCC. To assist the FCC with standards policy issues, CRE has drafted a White Paper, Market Driven Consortia, Implications for the FCC's Cable Access Proceeding, which discusses issues concerning the development and use of non-consensus standards.

Issues discussed in the CRE White Paper include:

• OMB Circular A-119 which governs federal use of privately developed standards and participation in consensus standards development activities by federal employees.
• FCC use of non-consensus standards for the cable television industry.
• Antitrust issues relating to the development of non-consensus standards.
• Development of non-consensus standards by entities not accredited by ANSI.
• The future of consensus and non-consensus standards development processes.

The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness is creating an exploratory committee to determine whether an ANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) or an MDC should be established for the purpose of developing standards for interconnecting cable televisions systems with the internet and other networks. Stakeholders interested in participating in the exploratory committee should contact the CRE.

Click here to read FCC Chairman Kennard's announcement

Click here to read the CRE Letter to FCC Chairman Kennard on Cable Access.

Click Here to read the CRE White Paper: Market Driven Consortia, Implications for the FCC's Cable Access Proceeding in HTML format

Click Here to read the CRE White Paper: Market Driven Consortia, Implications for the FCC's Cable Access Proceeding in PDF format

CRE invites all interested parties to submit comments on these issues to CRE's Interactive Public Docket.

Please click below to submit comments regarding the CRE White Paper.

CRE White Paper: Interactive Public Docket

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