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over open access
Pressing to force open cable's high-speed pipes
By David Everitt
Cable-delivered broadband promises big-time growth as an economical way to bring high-speed internet access to millions of people.
But that promise won't be fulfilled unless there's more competition in the delivery of high-speed content to consumers, say some media watchdogs.
The campaign for open access has been an issue for some time now. Cable operators have gotten into the broadband field by offering web services from their own internet providers. Open-access advocates want to compel cable companies to supply other alternatives as well.
The courts haven’t been too friendly to this point of view. Last month, a federal court overturned a Virginia open-access law, and this is just the latest in a string of similar decisions. But the fight is still on, says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.
Open access isn’t important only for consumers, Chester argues, but for advertisers too. His organization is now pinning its hopes on an upcoming report on the issue from the Federal Communications Commission.
"This is a key issue," says Chester, "to anyone who is concerned about democratic values and diversity values."
He points out that the internet began as an open network, in which the phone companies were required to maintain a free flow of information from one end to the other.
"Anyone could create a web site," Chester says, "or an e-commerce proposition. But cable is regulated as a one-way, closed network, and this has been used as a way to ward off open access.
"We believe cable-delivered broadband will be dominant in the residential market, and the cable operators will use their control of the medium to favor their own content and brands. It will threaten competition.
"The danger is that, if there are no safeguards, the cable companies will not act as a neutral cop, or even a fair one. The internet economy will skew. The cable companies will go from controlling TV content on cable to controlling digital information on broadband."
Advertisers trying to pull onto the information highway will experience difficulties, according to Chester.
"With the control cable operators will have, they’ll favor certain advertisers over others. They will control advertisers’ digital destiny. Five or six media companies will be in charge of the system, and many advertisers will probably feel like they’ve been taken hostage."
The National Cable Television Association, on the other hand, prefers to characterize the open-access issue as "forced access."
The organization also believes that the issue has essentially been settled. NCTA spokesman David Beckwith cites two reasons.
"One, no state has approved forced access. And two, trials are already underway among the largest MSOs to test multi-vendor models."
Multi-vendor means that cable operators have started to allow at least one other internet service vendor besides their own.
But Chester does not believe this is sufficient. Others also question how inclusive this approach is.
"The cable operators have a long way to go toward open access," says Josh Wise, digital media analyst for Allied Business Intelligence.
Technical problems with the software platform for the broadband service, Wise believes, are one factor that is slowing down the process.
"They have to agree on a starting point," he says. "The software has to be robust enough to satisfy everybody but not so robust as to make it too difficult to deploy."
The Center for Digital Democracy prefers to focus on the cable industry’s resistance, and the organization has become even more alarmed lately as a result of Comcast’s plans to acquire AT&T Broadband.
The organization points to Comcast’s opposition to opening up its internet pipeline.
"Comcast wants to become an unregulated digital toll booth," says Chester, "and it will use its dominant monopoly status to extract new fees from competitors and consumers alike."
August 2, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-David Everitt covers television and technology for Media Life, writing from Huntington, New York.
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