FCC Should Dismiss TWC's Petition for Reconsideration, Massachusetts Dept. Says

The FCC should affirm the continued certification of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable to regulate cable rates in Adams, MDTC said in an FCC filing. A petition by Time Warner Cable doesn't rebut MDTC's demonstration that effective competition isn't present in Adams, it said. The ZIP codes that TWC identifies in the proceeding don't contain residential households, MDTC said. Because of that, any DBS subscriptions in those ZIP codes are irrelevant to a determination of effective competition in those areas, it said. Even if the nonresidential subscriptions that TWC found were included in the effective competition calculation, the DBS penetration would still be under 15 percent, MDTC said. Only a few state and municipal interests challenged nationwide effective competition for cable operators, and those companies including TWC have been rebutting those challenges (see 1601110040 and 1601080019).