IBEW
Join Us

Sign up for the lastest information from the IBEW!

Related ArticlesRelated Articles

Visit Our Media Department

Print This Page       Text Size:
News Publications

Public Airwaves for Public Good, Not Private Profits, say Verizon/Cable Deal Critics 

 

August 2, 2012

photo placeholder
 

Criticism continues to mount on Verizon’s proposed $3.6 billion deal with some of the nation’s biggest cable companies – an agreement that has been labeled by many elected officials, unions, businesses and industry watchdogs as anticompetitive and bad for workers and consumers.

 

If approved by the Federal Communications Commission, the agreement would allow Verizon Wireless and the top four cable companies – Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House – to form what in effect would be an unchecked monopoly, dominating the market in “quad-play” service:  wireless, phone, Internet and TV.

In a letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, more than 30 House members said that the agreement would give Verizon and the cable companies involved an “enormous advantage over their competitors,” which would have “far-reaching implications on the competitive landscape.”

Under particular scrutiny have been Verizon’s and the cable companies’ handling of the electromagnetic spectrum, the limited range of bands available for wireless and television broadcasting.

In 2006 Comcast and Time Warner purchased more than $2 billion of spectrum from the FCC at public auction. Now Verizon is readying to fork over nearly double that amount to get their hands on it, potentially violating FCC regulation regarding public airwaves.

Federal rules are clear: the spectrum belongs to the public and is to be developed in the public interest – not a commodity which can be sold and traded at a profit.

Says Broadcasting and Telecommunications Department International Representative Bob Erickson:

It’s belongs to all of us. You shouldn’t be buying it just to sit on it and watch it increase in value. But cable treated it like beach front property. If Comcast and the other companies weren’t using it when they bought it, they should have returned it to the FCC to be auctioned off to the highest bidder..

Verizon and Big cable’s misuse of the wireless spectrum has also raised the ire of others in the telecommunications and broadcasting business, including the National Association of Broadcasters.

In April NAB spokesperson Dennis Wharton criticized cable for “warehousing” public airwaves in some of the largest urban markets in America at a profit.

And with increased concern over a potential spectrum crunch as wireless providers and broadcasters continue to compete for limited air space, Verizon’s/Big Cable’s wheeling and dealing with the public airwaves has many worried about the stifling effects it will have on the telecommunications industry.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the subcommittee on antitrust, competitive policy and consumer rights, raised the issue of a potential spectrum monopoly in a May 24 letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and FCC Chairman Genechowski, advising the Justice Department to:

Weigh the purported consumer benefits in Verizon Wireless gaining greater spectrum holdings to meet burgeoning spectrum demands … against the competitive consequences of other wireless carriers being foreclosed from access to [advanced wireless services] spectrum and whether or not this is likely to substantially degrade competition in the wireless industry by denying rivals access to an essential input.

The deal is currently under review by both the FCC and the Justice Department. Click here to find out more.