FCC plan to juice cable competition

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday adopted a plan to encourage cable competition and increase broadband Internet access by eliminating some barriers to new competitors.

The order sets a 90-day time limit for local officials to make decisions on the applications of most telephone companies that want to begin providing subscription television service, and was portrayed by commission members as a way of keeping down cable prices and introducing competition.

"As new providers began actively seeking entry into video markets, we began to hear that some local authorities were making the process of getting franchises unreasonably difficult, despite clear statutory language," chairman Kevin J. Martin said. "Such unreasonable requirements are especially troubling because competition is desperately needed in the video market."

In Massachusetts, Verizon has slowly rolled out it s FiOS television offering, but has had to negotiate TV franchises with each of the 37 towns and cities where it has signed agreements. Verizon officials said speeding up the approval process will bring more choices to more consumers and help lower costs.

The average negotiation time is 15 months, according to company spokesman Phil Santoro , who said yesterday's decision "paves the way for greater choice and advanced technology for the state."

The decision said local authorities would have 90 days to approve applications from providers who already have local rights of way and would have 180 days for new providers. It was attacked by representatives from the cable industry and by organizations representing cities and towns.

"The Federal Communications Commission clearly has decided to side with telephone companies over citizens, with powerful interests over communities, and has outrageously overstepped its authority," said Geoffrey Beckwith , executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

Beckwith said the decision "disempowers" local cities and towns, which have been able to make deals requiring companies to extend service to all sectors of their communities and provide public, educational, and governmental programming.

Paul Cianelli , president of the New England Cable and Telecommunications Association, which represents cable providers, said the ruling favors phone companies after cable companies for 40 years had to submit to open-ended negotiations with municipalities.

Telecom industry analyst Jeff Kagan said the vote will benefit consumers. As cable companies got into the phone business, offering voice plans over the past two years, he said, they were not required to negotiate contracts with individual communities, and now telephone companies should be treated the same way as they expand to offer television service.

"Cable television rates have gone up, they haven't gone down over the past 30 years. Telephone services [rates] in the last 10 to 15 years have been coming down with competition," Kagan said. "That's what we have to encourage."

Congress has been deliberating whether to streamline the franchise process on the federal level, and Verizon petitioned the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy earlier this year to speed the application process in Massachusetts.

US Representative Edward J. Markey, a member of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, said in a statement that yesterday's vote was like a "lump of coal" for local communities. "I fully support providing consumers with additional marketplace choices for cable service, but I believe competition must be promoted in a way that also respects the important values of localism and universal service."

Carolyn Johnson can be reached at cjohnson@globe.com.