Just four months ago the FCC issued its most recent annual report to Congress on the market for delivery of video programming – but that was for the period through June 2006. So, under Acting Chairman Michael Copps, the Commission is kicking into gear to gather data on three years at once.
“We haven’t done a very good job recently of meeting our obligation to report annually to Congress on the state of video competition. That’s putting it about as mildly as I can,” Copps said yesterday.
The supplemental notice of inquiry adopted Wednesday extends the current gathering of comments and data through June 2007 to include two more years, through June 2009. It also adds a couple of areas of inquiry to reflect recent market developments.
Of interest to broadcasters, the supplemental NOI seeks information on the impact of the DTV transition on video competition. It also wants to know about the market impact of new competitors to cable/satellite services, specifically Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-Verse.
