Media Bureau Rejects NAB/PK Request for More Time on Effective Competition

The FCC Media Bureau rejected a joint request from NAB and Public Knowledge and won’t delay Thursday’s deadline for comments on a proposal to make it a rebuttable presumption that cable companies face effective competition, the bureau said in an order Tuesday. Extending the comment deadlines for the proceeding would “render it impossible” for the FCC to meet a June 2 deadline imposed on the commission by the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization, it said. STELAR requires the FCC to provide relief from effective competition rules for smaller cable companies, but the proposed solution is much broader, NAB and Public Knowledge said (see 1503300062). “The Commission has determined that the most administratively efficient approach in this proceeding is to consider all issues raised in the NPRM,” the order said. NCTA and the American Cable Association submitted filings urging the bureau to reject the request from NAB and Public Knowledge. Comments are due Thursday, replies April 20.