The FCC offered its opinion in the recent spat between cable MSOs and Verizon. Several cable companies lodged a formal complaint with the FCC claiming Verizon was illegally trying to stop customers from defecting to cable triple play offers. The complaint alleged that once Verizon got notice of a telephone number porting request, they aggressively pursued that customer with offers to keep them from switching phone service providers. The cable industry argued the practice is against the spirit of FCC competition guidelines, and may even be illegal. Verizon argues that they are doing nothing illegal, and are simply aggressively competing in the marketplace.

Apparently, the FCC agrees. In the Enforcement Bureau’s recommendation, the FCC, while suggesting Verizon’s retention marketing practice may need more study (and even recommends a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the subject), sees this type of debate as healthy for consumers and the competitive marketplace. “In fact, one could argue that, when the customer’s existing provider offers to lower prices or expand services to prevent the customer from switching providers, the customer benefits. This type of aggressive competition to win and to keep customers can result in lower prices for consumers, the introduction of new services and technologies, and improved quality of service as carriers compete in the open marketplace,” says the FCC Enforcement Bureau. They go on to say, “In fact, today’s competitive marketplace for bundled services, and intermodal competition of providers of services within the bundle, may reduce the need for regulation. It is reasonable even to ask whether further deregulation would allow for even more vigorous competition for customers and bring with it the associated benefits of such competition.” In the end, the recommendation rules for Verizon and says the cable company’s complaint and argument “don’t hold any water” in the context of the current guidelines and regulations. Checkmark Verizon.

Several cable companies, including Comcast, Brighthouse, and Time Warner Cable have filed a complaint with the FCC about Verizon’s “retention marketing” practices. First reported in Multichannel News, the cable operators claim that Verizon is using their knowledge of number porting requests to target customers who have already committed to switch phone service to cable competitors. Such a practice is against FCC rules. Carriers are only permitted to try to win customers back after they have switched, not try to convince them not to go once they have begun the process. FCC rules state that a carrier can’t use a porting request to try to influence a customer’s decision to switch carriers. Maybe this is a little payback to Verizon for their current and future patent lawsuits against cable companies over VoIP technology. The battle over VoIP is sure to get more complicated as competitors use a variety of regulatory and legal tactics to try to slow each other’s progress down.

You know the competitive landscape is quite mature when competitors resort to blimps. That’s just what’s happening between DirecTV and its central Florida cable competitors. It all revolves around the cantankerous issue of the NFL Network. The NFL Network is battling cable companies to get carriage on their basic tiers. Many cable companies are resisting, and putting NFL Network on a digital or “sports” tier. Others, including Time Warner Cable don’t offer NFL Network at all. As a result, millions of cable subscribers can’t watch NFL Games on the NFL Network. DirectTV, Verizon FiOS, and other cable competitors are seizing on this issue to build competitive advantage, by offering NFL Network on less restrictive tiers. DirecTV is trying to exploit this advantage, thus the blimp.

DirecTV will be flying their Starship blimp over the Tampa/St. Petersburg market during tonight’s Denver Broncos/Houston Texans game, and displaying the actual game on the blimp’s 2,100-square foot video display. People from the ground will be able to watch the actual game on the blimp. DirecTV is taking aim at Brighthouse Networks, the local cable MSO, which does not carry NFL Network. DirecTV will continue the blimp tactic across central Florida, including Orlando, for the next few NFL Network game broadcasts. There is no end in sight for this dispute. Even Senator John Kerry has offered to try to mediate. I guess our nation’s many problems will need to take a back seat as the Senator resolves the ultra important issue of who gets to watch the game tonight.