New England Cable TV Assn. (NECTA) said it would appeal to FCC ru...
New England Cable TV Assn. (NECTA) said it would appeal to FCC ruling of R.I. Div. of Public Utilities & Carriers (DPUC) that SMATV operator Starlight Communications wasn’t cable operator subject to franchise requirements. DPUC’s interim ruling came on…
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petition by NECTA seeking discovery hearing to determine whether Starlight was protected under 7th U.S. Appeals Court, Chicago, ruling in ECI v City of Lansing (CD Dec 9/99 p3). Court had sided with FCC that Entertainment Connections Inc. could operate without cable franchise. NCTA, National Assn. of Telecom Officers & Advisers (NATOA) and other cities had backed City of Lansing in lawsuit. DPUC Assoc. Administrator (Cable) Eric Palazzo said that under current FCC rules and 7th Circuit rulings, Starlight couldn’t be deemed cable operator. He held in ruling that DPUC had required that Starlight provide affidavit that it wasn’t crossing public rights-of-way and Verizon, whose facilities Starlight was using to provide service, submit affidavit that SMATV operator was using its supertrunks to provide service. He said while DPUC itself wouldn’t take issue to FCC, it strongly encouraged NECTA to solicit FCC opinion on issue. NECTA Exec. Vp William Durand said cable had argued that accepted ECI model hadn’t been accepted in First Circuit that had jurisdiction over R.I. and that ruling in ECI case had been confined to particular factual contexts. One key requirement in ECI is that facilities used primarily by Ameritech to provide service to ECI weren’t built at ECI’s request. In Starlight case, Verizon doesn’t have ubiquitous preexisting common carrier transport network terminating at each multiple dwelling unit (MDU), he said. Company constructs special runs tailored to each customer, he said, and Verizon’s offering is far more similar to custom-built “channel service” that requires cable franchise. Another factor in ECI was capacity to serve several other programming providers, Durand said, and in Verizon’s case Starlight specified and controls access to wires, which were not available for use by competitors. Durand said he got impression following discussions with DPUC staff that division didn’t have resources to launch protracted legal battle on its own but was willing to back cable’s position. NECTA will file petition with FCC in Jan., he said. Starlight provides video programming service to about 13 MDUs.