McSlarrow

The former head of a cable industry lobbying group could become the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission if Mitt Romney is elected president.

Multichannel News reports a source close to the Romney transition team tells the trade publication the former head of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association — Kyle McSlarrow — could be a possible candidate for the FCC chairmanship if Gov. Romney wants to look beyond current Republican commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai.

McSlarrow is an informal adviser for the Romney campaign on energy and telecommunications issues. Currently, McSlarrow serves as president of Comcast’s Washington, D.C. office, which lobbies lawmakers on behalf of America’s largest cable operator.

McSlarrow is a longtime Republican and served as a former deputy secretary at the Department of Energy and was the national chairman for the Quayle 2000 campaign.

A source close to McSlarrow said the rumors about the FCC chairmanship were “untrue.”

The Federal Communications Commission has granted cable operators permission to completely encrypt their television lineups, potentially requiring every subscriber to rent set top boxes or CableCARD technology to continue watching cable-TV.

The FCC voted last week 5-0 to allow total encryption, a reversal of an older rule that prohibited encryption of the basic tier, allowing cable customers to watch local stations and other community programming without the expense of extra equipment.

The cable industry said the decision is a victory against cable theft, claiming that nearly five percent of all cable television hookups are illegally stealing service, at a cost estimated at $5 billion in lost revenue annually.

But some third party companies offering alternatives to costly set top boxes with endless monthly rental fees claim the industry move towards encryption is more about protecting the cable monopoly than controlling signal theft.

Current licensing agreements do not allow third party set top manufacturers to support scrambled channels without an added-cost, cable company-supplied set top box or card. That means a would-be customer would have to invest in a third party set top box and a cable company-supplied set top box to manage scrambled channels. That may leave customers wondering why they need the third party box at all.

This presented a problem for Boxee, which manufactures third party set top boxes, some with DVR capability. If cable systems completely encrypt their lineups, Boxee customers will need to rent a cable box and work through a complicated procedure to get both to work together.

Boxee officials suggest both an interim and long term solution to the dilemma — both requiring the goodwill of the cable industry to work out the details.

For now, Boxee and Comcast have agreed to work together on an HD digital transport adapter (DTA) with built-in Ethernet (E-DTA). A Boxee user would then access basic tier channels directly through an Ethernet connection and change channels remotely using their enhanced set top via a DLNA protocol.

A longer term solution would be to create a licensing path for an integrated DTA solution included inside third party set top boxes. This would eliminate the need for an added cost E-DTA box.

Cable operators planning to encrypt their entire television lineup will soon begin notifying customers of their plans. Under an agreement with the FCC, those with broadcast basic service will get up to two boxes for two years without charge (five years if the customer is on public assistance). Those who already have a cable box or DVR will get one box for two years at no charge. The cable company can impose monthly rental fees on additional boxes and begin charging for every box after two years.

Former FCC chairman Michael Powell, who now presides over the nation’s largest cable lobbying group, called the FCC decision “pro-consumer” despite the added expense and inconvenient many customers will experience.

“By permitting cable operators to join their competitors in encrypting the basic service tier, the commission has adopted a sensible, pro-consumer approach that will reduce overall in- home service calls,” said Powell, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. “Encryption of the basic tier also enhances security of the network which reduces service theft that harms honest customers.”

Comcast is a leading proponent of total encryption, because it would allow them to start and stop service remotely, without having to schedule a service call to disconnect service. Cablevision already encrypts its entire lineup in certain areas under a previously-obtained waiver from the FCC. The company said it saved money reducing labor costs associated with service calls to physically connect and disconnect service.

Seattle residents are on edge thanks to incredibly aggressive Comcast contract workers who refuse to take no for an answer, pounding on doors demanding to be let in, and in some cases making repeated visits, even after police were called.

Valerie Bauman told KING News two men turned up at her apartment Friday flashing cards which they said gave them the right to go where they please.

“They said they were contractors for Comcast and had the authority to be there and showed me this card and I mean, I’ve got a deck of cards, I can pull out the queen but I’m not royalty,” Bauman told the station.

Sam Levine, another Seattle resident said Comcast salespeople pounded on his door demanding to be let in and simply will not take no for an answer.

“It’s not acceptable, it’s not cool, it’s not a way to treat your customers,” Levine said.

Bauman called police because she felt unsafe with the two men, especially after they came back.

Won’t take no for an answer.

“One of them smiled at me and said, ‘Are the police on their way ma’am?’” said Bauman.

Comcast told both customers they were powerless to help because the salesmen were contract workers not directly hired by Comcast and it would be hard to pinpoint who they were.

“You don’t have any right to put somebody in a position where you feel unsafe and threatened in your own home,” said Bauman.

After the media got involved, Steve Kipp, Comcast Washington Region vice president of communications issued this statement:

On behalf of Comcast, I want to offer my apologies to our customers. We are taking these complaints very seriously. As a policy, we do not tolerate overly aggressive, inappropriate behavior from the door to door sales people employed directly by Comcast or by our contractor companies and will take steps to ensure that incidents like this do not happen again. If anyone witnesses unacceptable behavior from any door to door sales person representing Comcast, we encourage you to call 1-800-COMCAST to lodge a complaint.

[flv width=”432″ height=”260″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KING Seattle Pushy Comcast workers worry Capitol Hill residents 10-8-12.mp4[/flv]

KING in Seattle talks with local residents about Comcast’s highly aggressive sales force that pounds on doors and demands entry to sell cable service.  (2 minutes)

Comcast’s porn charged cable bills run into the hundreds of dollars for one 80-year old customer who claims she never ordered them.

An 80-year-old Richmond, Virginia woman has been billed more than a thousand dollars by Comcast for adult pay per view movies she never ordered.

Shirley Mascaro has been fighting with Comcast for nearly a year over an endless series of $13.99 titles that have regularly appeared on her monthly bill since February.

Mascaro not only says she never watched the movies, she has no idea how to order pay per view programming.

Mascaro refused to pay for the movies she did not order, resulting in one bill for $700. Comcast shut off her service, despite regular complaints and promised service credits for the movies.

One young Comcast employee stood in Mascaro’s living room and doubted her veracity when she claimed she was not watching titles like “Xtsy,” “Pant,” and “Juicy.”

“‘Everybody says they don’t order these moves, but they really do,'” Mascaro recalls the Comcast employee telling her.

Another employee offered that perhaps one of Mascaro’s neighbors was stealing her cable.

“Maybe they are but I don’t know,” Mascaro replied. “You need to find out.”

Mascaro suspects Comcast’s cable box might be the culprit. The charges began right after Comcast installed the box on her new television.

With no end in sight to the porn fees, Mascaro contacted WWBT in Richmond and appealed to their consumer reporter for assistance. That quickly got the attention of Comcast, who called the entire matter “an isolated problem.”

Comcast released a statement to NBC12 apologizing to Mascaro and crediting all disputed charges on her account. But Mascaro, and the TV station, are not so sure the charges will not be back. 12 On Your Side reporter Diane Walker promised to keep watching.

Mascaro also wants Comcast to send her a letter just in case the company tries to ruin her credit over the unpaid porn movies.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WWBT Richmond Elderly woman charged hundreds of dollars by Comcast for porn 10-2-12.mp4[/flv]

An 80-year-old Richmond, Va. woman’s year-long dispute over hundreds of dollars in Comcast pay-per-view-porn she says she never ordered may finally be over. WWBT reports.  (3 minutes)

Comcast cable subscribers in Mattapoisett want less bundling and fewer fees.

They and everyone else.

This month, the 6,000 local residents of the small coastal town in southeastern Massachusetts got the opportunity to voice their concerns about Comcast Cable’s performance before the Board of Selectmen at an open town meeting contemplating the renewal of the cable operator’s five year franchise agreement.

The Sippican Week covered the proceedings:

Subscription plans and fees were the main concerns voiced by residents at the meeting.

“I’m just here to see if there is any way we can unbundle or offer some of the channels a la carte, rather than have to pay an exorbitant fee for the channels that are bundled at the different levels,” said Herb Webb.

“Instead of these large packages you have to buy, they could break them up into smaller sub-packages,” said Selectman Tyler Macallister. “Get some feedback from the town and develop packages specially for Mattapoisett.”

Resident Bob Spooner also questioned the $2 fee subscribers are charged for each cable box in addition to their main TV.

“What about the people who have four or five TVs,” said Spooner. “That’s another six or eight dollars a month.”

Macallister agreed, “I’m already paying for those channels, but now I have to pay $2 to get it.”

Selectmen chair Jordan Collyer tried to answer residents’ concerns, much like any local town or city official facing similar complaints would — with understanding and little else. After all, Comcast operates in a largely deregulated marketplace and need not fear threats from elected officials.

Local governments have no say over a cable company’s pricing for its most popular tiers of service, cannot dictate matters of channel bundling or equipment fees, and have little recourse beyond taking bids from other operators willing to serve when an incumbent company’s franchise goes unrenewed.

But that almost never happens. No major cable operator will offer to replace another major operator, meaning the chances that Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevision, or Bright House Networks would respond favorably to a request are effectively zero.

But parts of Mattapoisett are lucky enough to at least have a competitive option — Verizon FiOS, although that company also charges for set top equipment and bundles channels together. The local government has little control over Verizon’s service either.

One alternative open to residents and the local government is to support the construction of a community-owned provider that could, as much as programming contracts allow, respond more effectively to these kinds of concerns. Under current regulatory policies, that is about the only way Mattapoisett, and towns like it, can guarantee the presence of a responsive provider ready to meet the collective needs of the community.