Public Interest Groups Press for Release of Unredacted Versions of Marketing Agreements
Four public interest groups Tuesday urged the FCC to release unredacted versions of marketing agreements between Verizon, SpectrumCo and Cox filed at the FCC, as the commission examines a series of AWS license sales. The companies last month filed the agreements voluntarily (CD Jan 20 p1). But Free Press, the Media Access Project, Public Knowledge and the Greenlining Institute said the redacted filings are so full of holes they're nearly unintelligible.
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SpectrumCo agreed in December to sell 133 AWS licenses to Verizon for $3.6 billion. Verizon is also buying several dozen AWS licenses from Cox. The companies announced at the same time a series of commercial agreements between the cable operators and Verizon Wireless, under which they would sell each others’ products. SpectrumCo is a joint venture of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The Wireless Bureau is expected to take a close look at the proposed deals involving Verizon and the cable operators (CD Jan 19 p1).
The companies should have to “submit the full, unredacted agreements so that we and other groups can conduct a thorough analysis of the effects on competition in the relevant markets,” said Free Press Political Adviser Joel Kelsey. “It is impossible to discern the truth of the claims made by the companies given the size and scope of redactions in the current agreements."
The companies said they were submitting the agreements with only a small number of redactions, the public interest groups said in a joint ex parte filing at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bmra22). “Having had an opportunity to review these materials, the undersigned can attest that the parties’ characterization seriously understates the scope and significance of the redactions they have made,” they said. “By withholding all information about pricing and compensation -- in several cases, blacking out more than ten pages at a time -- the parties have denied the Commission and interested parties the opportunity to assess the economic incentives created by these agreements and their potential effects on competition in the relevant markets.” Because many provisions were “redacted in their entirety, including headings, there is no way to know the subject matter covered,” the letter said.
The FCC had no comment, a spokesman said. Verizon, Comcast and Cox also declined to comment.