FCC Reports to Congress on Video Competition
Referenced Source. The FCC Media Bureau - http://www.fcc.gov/mb/ - Annual report's to congress.
2002 MB Docket No. 02-145: FCC 02-338 (FCC-02-338A1.doc)
Exerpt from... The Commission’s ninth annual report (“2002 Report”) to Congress on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming.
98. VDSL. Qwest Communications International offers video, high-speed Internet access and telephone service over existing copper telephone lines using very high-speed digital subscriber line ("VDSL") in Omaha, Nebraska; Phoenix, Arizona; and Boulder and Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Small LECs continue to deploy VDSL, although deployment has slowed in the face of financial difficulties in the telecommunications industry and the economy as a whole. Forty-five LECs, mostly small, are using VDSL technology to offer video and data, with roughly 108,000 video subscribers, a growth of 8,000 subscribers in the last year(341). For example, Hometown Online, Inc., a subsidiary of Warwick Valley Telephony Company, offers digital video service using VDSL in several communities on the New York-New Jersey border(342). We previously reported on companies investigating deployment of video over the lower bandwidth asymmetric digital subscriber line service (“ADSL”),(343) but this appears to remain in the trial stage.(344)
(341) E-mail from Roger Bindl, Director, Engineering & Consulting Companies, Next Level Communications, Oct. 6, 2002.
(342) See, generally, Hometown Comments. Hometown reports difficulty with acquiring programming and difficulty dealing with local and state regulatory agencies, and states that this indicates a need for federal intervention to open the market to competition.
(343) 2001 Report, 17 FCC Rcd at 1292-3.
(344) E-mail from Roger Bindl, Director,
Engineering & Consulting Companies, Next Level Communications, Oct.
6, 2002.
2001 CS Docket No. 01-129 (fcc01389.doc)
Exerpt from... The Commission’s eight annual report (“2001 Report”) to Congress on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming.
103. VDSL. Qwest Communications International (formerly U S West) offers video, high-speed Internet access, and telephone service over existing copper telephone lines using very high speed digital subscriber line ("VDSL") in Omaha, Nebraska, and Phoenix, Arizona.(365) An increasing number of small LECs are using VDSL to offer a bundle of services, including multichannel video, over phone lines. Reports indicate that 40 to 50 LECs, mostly small, are using VDSL technology for this purpose, that they have 100,000 video subscribers, and that more than 280,000 lines to households are capable of delivering VDSL services.(366) Companies are also deploying, or investigating deploying, video over the lower bandwidth asymmetric digital subscriber line service (“ADSL”). Because of the lower capacity, video over ADSL involves an IP-based video-on-demand service, rather than full-fledged multichannel video. Qwest has contracted with Intertainer, Inc., to provide this service in Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Salt Lake City, Utah, Denver, Colorado, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Phoenix, Arizona,(367) and Verizon is investigating whether to offer the service to MDUs in its territory.(368) Between 5,000 and 10,000 households currently subscribe to ADSL video-on-demand service.(369)
(365) 2000 Report, 16 FCC Rcd at 6062. See also Matt Stump, In Omaha, Cox and Qwest Wage Three-Way Contest, Broadband Week, Oct. 1, 2001.
(366) Roger Bindl, Next Level Communications, Video In Telephony, Nov. 9, 2001. According to Next Level Communications, the companies offering VDSL include Qwest Communications, Wood County Telephone, Horizon Exop, Tri County, All West, Hutchinson, New Ulm, XIT Telecommunications & Technology, Inc., Pine Island Telephone, Washington County, Halstad, NEP, HTC, PBT Communications & Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative, Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Clear Lake Independent Telephone, Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Cooperative, Outreach, Hickory Tech, Chequamegon Telephone, Horry Telephone Cooperative, Mankato, North Star, Sleepy Eye, CTC Communication & Chibardun Telephone Cooperative, Brandenburg LLP, Delhi, Hansol, Manti Telephone Company, WH-Link, Skyline Telephone, Membership, Sherburne Tele Systems, Inc., Piedmont Telephone Membership Corporation, Iowa Network Services, Century Telephone, En-Tel Communications, LLC, and North-Eastern Pennsylvania Telephone Co. E-mail from Roger Bindl, Director, Engineering & Consulting Companies, Next Level Communications, Oct. 18, 2001. Some of the other small LECs deploying VDSL are Wood County Telephone in Wood County, Wisconsin, Paul Bunyan Telephone in Bemidji, Minnesota, Hutchinson Telephone Company in Hutchinson, Minnesota, Hart Telephone Company in Hartwell, Georgia, and Horizon Chillicothe Telephone in Chillicothe, Ohio. Karen Brown, Getting the Picture? Telcos Struggle With Unfocused Video Market, Broadband Week, June 4, 2001.
(367) Karen Brown, Getting the Picture? Telcos Struggle With Unfocused Video Market, Broadband Week, June 4, 2001.
(368) Richard Williamson and Bill Scanlon, DSL Video Service Goes Condo, Interactive Week, Apr. 15, 2001.
(369) Roger Bindl, Next Level Communications, Video In Telephony, Nov. 9, 2001.