On December 2, INCOMPAS filed comments with the FCC arguing that advancements in residential broadband competition are being held back by the inability of providers to negotiate retransmission consent for broadcast programming at non-discriminatory and reasonable rates.

"Market power over video pricing has emerged as the ace up the sleeve for broadcasters seeking to cement their position in a shifting video marketplace," said Chip Pickering, CEO of INCOMPAS. "Broadband competition should mean that consumers will finally have the power to watch what they want, delivered by who they want. But the lack of transparency in video pricing and an inability to break the bundle is holding back the future of competition."

In its comments, INCOMPAS noted that new smaller broadband providers continue to face significant challenges securing retransmission consent agreements due to bad faith negotiating techniques employed by broadcasters who maintain an overwhelming advantage in contract negotiations.

"From Kansas City and Austin to Detroit, we are seeing competition from new network providers like Google Fiber and ComSpan Communications lower broadband prices and increase speeds. But the opposite is happening in the video marketplace, where competitive customers are paying multiples more for the same video programming large incumbents get at a discount. This runs counter to free market principles, and must be addressed," Pickering added.

The INCOMPAS filing laid out a number of steps the FCC should take to remove the video roadblocks, including:

On December 1, INCOMPAS filed an ex parte with the FCC that counters claims made by AT&T, in which it argues that the Commission must overcome high legal and administrative hurdles before it can reform policies governing packet-based special access services.

INCOMPAS pointed out that the orders granting ILEC forbearance from the application of its dominant carrier tariff filing, cost support, discontinuance, and domestic transfer of control and certain Computer Inquiry requirements to broadband services were expressly limited to the services offered at the time of the grant, not subsequent services, such as AT&T Switched Ethernet or any future packet-based services. INCOMPAS called on the Commission to "review the packet-based services offered by all incumbent LECs that received forbearance in order to assess the extent to which they were introduced after the carrier received forbearance."

On December 2, the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, led by Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), voted a legislative package to improve broadband deployment and the Federal Spectrum Incentive Act (H.R. 1641) out of subcommittee.