The FCC is scheduled to decide tomorrow whether to pursue Chairman Kevin Martin’s plan to expand the Commission’s authority to regulate the cable industry. The attempt relies on a legal provision that gives the FCC greater regulatory authority should the cable industry pass 70 percent of all U.S. households, and then sign up 70 percent of those as customers.
Martin’s two fellow Republican appointees on the commission have reservations about the plan and want to gather more information on the subject. Martin was relying on the two Democratic appointees to back the plan, but the New York Times (registration required) reports that one of them, Jonathan Adelstein, feels that Martin is rushing the decision and is also seeking more information.
Craig Moffett, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, provided Adelstein an analysis that appears to undercut Martin’s position: There are 116 million households in the U.S. and 63 million cable subscribers, which means cable has nowhere near a 70 percent penetration rate.
