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FCC Ends Sole Cable TV Deals In Mobile Home Parks

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By RICHARD MULLINS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

TAMPA - Some cable TV relief is coming to the gated communities and mobile home parks of Florida.

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday issued an order that effectively ends deals - and prevents any future deals - that make one cable TV company the exclusive provider of cable TV for private developments.

Although much of the debate at the FCC had centered on exclusive deals with apartment and condo buildings, the FCC's final order Tuesday specifically applies to "gated communities, mobile home parks, garden apartments, and other centrally managed residential real estate developments."

In Florida, where such communities are common, many of these arrangements mean residents pay for a basic cable TV package through their homeowners association fees. The fees are often mandatory, so if residents wish to choose another cable TV provider, they still must pay the fee for the first company.

The FCC found that about 30 percent of Americans live in those kinds of apartments or planned communities.

"This really now opens the market," said Bob Elek, a spokesman for New York-based Verizon Communications, which has been pushing into the Bay area's cable TV market. Elek said gated communities and other real estate projects are "something we run into quite a bit. Hopefully with this order we will be able to serve those customers."

Officials with Bright House Networks had no comment on the ruling.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or

rmullins@tampatrib.com.

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