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from: Broadband Reports

FCC Attacks Exclusive Broadband Deals

From Broadband Reports, September 6, 2007

For months, AT&T and Verizon have been asking the FCC to ban cable operators from maintaining exclusive service contracts with the owners of apartment buildings, developments and MDUs (multiple dwelling units). When the phone company asks for something, the FCC delivers:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is recommending prohibiting such future agreements and preventing enforcement of exclusivity clauses in existing contracts, three FCC officials say. They requested anonymity because the agency’s five commissioners have not yet voted on the proposal.

Cable providers and landlords, meanwhile, argue that the FCC lacks the legal authority to intervene and that nothing is wrong with the current system. Comcast insists to the FCC that the deals bring consumers lower prices.

Consumers stuck in such cable arrangements usually don’t agree. The smaller exclusive operators in particular have absolutely no competition and therefore no incentive to improve, so they frequently offer pricey services, few features and limited customer support.

Verizon, of course, is making a big push this year into the MDU market with FiOS, and last we checked, they had some exclusive deals of their own. Such deals are sometimes extreme; one development in Virginia is locked into an exclusive 75-year service contract with a FTTH company residents say is unreliable and overpriced.