Verizon Wants FCC’s Help Wooing Cable Users

Verizon has petitioned the FCC to force cable companies to make it easier for consumers to switch away from cable to other video providers.

Telecommunications operator Verizon has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to make it easier for consumers to switch between video service providers—in particular, to switch from cable operators to video services offered by phone companies like Verizon. Verizon claims cable operators impose delays customer’s requests tos witch to a new service, and regularly fails to meet FCC-mandated timing requirements for local number portability.

"The process to switch video providers is more cumbersome for consumers," the company wrote in its petition. "Cable incumbents do not accept disconnect orders from the new provider; instead, they require the customer to contact them directly to cancel service after choosing a new video provider and to return equipment. This significantly complicates the process of switching video providers, thereby entrenching the cable incumbents’ dominant market position."

When consumers want to switch phone service, phone companies typically accept cancellation orders from the new provider, rather than requiring the customer contact them directly. However, such practices have sometimes led to abuse and customers finding their phone services have been changed without their consent (e.g. "slamming").

In a separate filing, Verizon also asked the FCC to stop cable industry practices that delay customer switching voice service from a cable operator to a new carrier. Verizon also alleges the cable industry is attempting to use the FCC and some regional regulatory authorities as shields from competition by preventing their customers from receiving information about competing services from other companies.

Verizon is spending billions of dollars to build out its fiber-based FiOS services, which bundles together voice, data, and video services. However, FiOS’s deployment has been slowed in many areas by slow regulatory approval as well as the complicated logistics of constructing the network.