Ms. Deborah Lathen

GLG News by Ms. Deborah Lathen, President

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CAN FCC CHAIRMAN MARTIN GO WHERE NO CHARIMAN HAS GONE BEFORE?

November 12, 2007

Analysis of:FCC Planning Rules to Open Cable Market | www.nytimes.com

Cable companies will continue to lose subscribers to AT&T and Verizon. They will have to share more of their programming with their competitors on nondiscriminatory terms and the FCC will scrutinize their deals much more closely than it has in the past. Comcast will be barred from acquiring any other cable companies, while AT&T maybe able to acquire Echostar making it even more competitive against cable. Martin will continue to push for a la carte programming which destroys the cable business model.  Increasing the pressure may cause cable to negotiate some type of a la carte compromise.  For broadcasters this "pro- consumer" agenda may mute some of the opposition to eliminating   the ban on  multiple media outlet ownership in major markets, thus providing some relief to Tribune and possibly expediting their merger.  Expect greater restrictions on cable companies ability to expand. Finally, it isn't clear how much of this will with stand court scrutiny.

Clinton helps Verizon move one step forward towards breaking cables strong hold on apartment dwellers.

October 26, 2007

Analysis of:Clinton Martin a ticket on MDU's | www.multichannel.com

Implications are that Verizon is making progress in freeing up the MDU market which in New York according to Clinton accounts for 20 million people.  This means as I previously stated Verizon will target Cable's premium customers.  The Clinton letter of support is good news for Verizon and bad news for cable companies, especially Cablevision and Time Warner, key New York players, who may face loss of subscribers and increased marketing costs to retain customers.  This is one to watch very closley.

Verizon's regulatory strategy for capturing cable's premium customers.

October 25, 2007

Analysis of:verizon's FiOS Challenges Cable's Clout | online.wsj.com

This article is important because the implications are beyond the privatization of Cablevision. FiOS may have a more immediate impact on the sale price of Cablevision, but the other cable companies are  at risk of seeing their most lucrative subscriber base shrink. That base consist of urban  dwellers. The core group that Verizon is targeting;  Verizon has the advantage of not  having to service sparsely populated or low rate of return areas where cable companies provide services.   However, three key impediments challenge Verizon's success: (1) access to multiple dwellings units (MDUs) (large residential buildings; (2) access to regional sports programming and (3) access to "must have" programming at competitive rates. Verizon is in the midst of executing a regulatory strategy which may bring  their desired results sooner than anticipated.

Verizon, AT&T and RCN winners if FCC bans exclusive contracts in apartment buildings.

October 24, 2007

Analysis of:Martin:Time to Kill Exclusive Cable MDU Deals | dtv.broadcastnewsroom.com

Verizon, AT&T and RCN are behind a push at the FCC to end exclusive contracts in apartment buildings which both cable companies and landlord's have found to be quite lucrative.

Martin's Media Ownership Battle--Can he succeed where Powell failed?

October 24, 2007

Analysis of:Obama critical of FCC plan to speed up media review | money.cnn.com

Most of the major newspapers reported last week that the Federal Communications Commission would vote on December 18 to eliminate rules which bar media companies from owning radio, TV and newspapers in the same market, commonly referred to as the cross ownership ban. Lifting the ban, could make it more likely that the Tribune and Clear Channel deals might close before the end of the year, because both deals contain components that violate the cross ownership ban. Tribune has been seeking a waiver of the rules, but this is a tedious and uncertain process.

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