Public Knowledge Again Seeks FCC Scrutiny of Cable Broadband Data Caps
The FCC needs to investigate why cable companies set data caps -- including whether they are just a revenue stream or also designed to stifle competition by preventing cord cutters from further favoring online video -- and the levels at…
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which they are set, said Public Knowledge Staff Attorney John Bergmayer in a blog Tuesday. Pointing to Public Knowledge's 2011 request for such an investigation, Bergmayer said Comcast's expanding its metered data usage trial is likely a rate hike by another name for cord cutters and their broadband use. Broadband price hikes make sense because there generally are fewer options for changing providers than there are for video service, Bergmayer said. "Hidden price hikes are nothing new for the cable industry. Below-the-line hidden fees, bogus equipment charges, and so on have been standard practice for years." Comcast has said the various data usage plans it has rolled out in different markets are experiments in finding what it has called "flexible and fair" broadband offerings (see 1511040057). Different broadband subscribers paying different amounts "is not objectionable," Bergmayer said, saying different speed tiers are the norm. "The question is what the secondary effects are of a usage-based model, and how the level at which any data caps are set can affect this," he said. Comcast didn't comment Tuesday.