AT&T Neutral on Charter's DirecTV Now Effective Competition Petition

Taking no position on Charter Communications' petition for effective competition finding in Hawaii and Massachusetts based on existence of DirecTV Now streaming service (see 1809170020), AT&T in an FCC docket 18-283 posting Friday said its DirecTV subsidiary isn't an MVPD as defined by Section 602 of the Communications Act since it doesn't provide a transmission path to subscribers. It said two of the three Cable Act tests for an effective competition finding require cable operators show competition in their franchise areas from MVPDs, and the LEC test in the act doesn't specifically require the LEC or its affiliate be an MVPD. It said courts have long followed statutory interpretation principles that say if language is included in one section of a statute but not another, that exclusion is presumed to be intentional. AT&T said Congress also didn't require the LEC or its affiliate to video programming "channels" as part of the LEC test, only video programing services.