Released: October 30, 2007

FCC poised to ban exclusive cable TV contracts

Source: Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times

Landlords often enter into exclusive deals with cable companies, leaving apartment dwellers with about as much say in who provides their pay television as they do in their building’s color—that is, none.

Now federal regulators are poised to invalidate those contracts as soon as Wednesday in hopes that competition from phone companies that are rolling out TV services will drive down prices.

Consumer groups support the move to strike down the deals and have joined Federal Communications Commission officials in complaining about rising prices for cable TV. They want to give phone companies and smaller cable operators a chance to compete.

“People who live in apartment buildings deserve to have the same type of competition and choices as people who live in suburbs,” said FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, who is pushing a plan to strike down the deals. “I’m optimistic that if you have additional competition, you’ll have lower prices.”

Supporters said Martin’s initiative would help minorities and the poor, who are more likely to live in apartments.

But some people worry that the plan could backfire.

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