No Changes to Cable TV Attributable Interests Order; Dem Commissioners Concur

No substantive changes were made to the draft cable TV attributable interests order approved on circulation this week (see 2009290052), per our side-by-side comparison with the approved order released Wednesday. Minority Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks concurred in statements on the item because it eliminated the requirement of reporting attributable interests in video programming without addressing the underlying 2001 court remand of the FCC's limits on the number of channels a cable operator may devote to programming from its affiliated channels. "But I’m afraid cutting corners here is just par for the course right now," Rosenworcel said. The cable TV 30-day notification order approved at Wednesday's meeting (see 2009300022) and released Thursday includes a provision eliminating the FCC rule that cable operators provide notice of any significant change to the information required in their annual notices. That provision wasn't in the draft order, per our comparison.