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Verizon to the FCC: Make cable play nice
March 26, 2008
A majority of the FCC's five commissioners voted to uphold a complaint by U.S. cable operators that Verizon improperly used customer data in its marketing efforts to dissuade customers from switching.
The FCC faced a midnight deadline for a ruling on the complaint, which was filed in February by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and others.
Although the commissioners voted ahead of the deadline, the agency did not publicly issue a final decision on the matter on Friday night because the release of the decision had not yet been authorized by all the commissioners, the source said.
Both Verizon and telephone industry leader AT&T offer high-speed Internet and video services that compete with cable, while cable providers sell phone services.
The complaint focuses on cases where Verizon has been notified that a customer intends to switch phone service, and whether the company can subsequently undertake marketing efforts to try to keep them as customers.
Verizon has argued that upholding the cable companies' complaint would put it at an unfair disadvantage and would deny customers full information about their options.
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Dell BOGO sale!
One more demonstration of how legislators use commissions to avoid responsibility to voters.
The next best thing is to boycott cable. Their service sucks anyway, regardless of their price.