On the eve of his resignation, now-former FCC chairman Kevin Martin got in one last shot against nine of the biggest cable companies -- including Comcast, Time Warner, Cox and Charter -- to the tune of $25,000 each. Citing the MSOs (Multiple System Operators) for failing to respond to the FCC's investigation of how they moved channels from analog to digital tiers, additional fines were then added on, bringing the total damages to all nine companies to a cool $510,000. Top honors go to Time Warner, which racked up a $137,000 bill. Wielding his poisoned pen, Martin wrote that the actions of the MSOs "... exhibits contempt for the FCC's authority," and by forcing customers to pay for digital set-top boxes, "... customers have been receiving less from the cable companies but paying the same price." Strong words, but would we wouldn't expect anything less from the FCC chairman who oversaw some of the biggest changes in telco this country's seen.
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Tsk, tsk. It seems that Comcast has all the time in the world to investigate just how high it should push cable rates, but not a moment to really sit down and answer questions from the FCC. Okay, so maybe that's a touch harsh, but it's really not far from the truth. It's stated that Comcast provided an "inadequate response" to a recent FCC request for "information on cable company policies as they switch to digital signals." As you could likely guess, Comcast isn't the only guilty party, but chairman Kevin Martin did pick on Comcast's "narrative" of a reply. Comcast alleges that fully completing the request would've required 1,500 man hours, and while we don't doubt the legitimacy of such a claim, we'd still probably think twice before pushing back a half-hearted response to the almighty Federal Communications Commission.

[Image courtesy of JournalGroup]

Ruh roh. Seems that perpetual gripes down in Tampa Bay, Florida have finally amounted to something substantial. Just months after hearing a chorus of complaints about Verizon's lackluster customer service, we're now seeing that the carrier could face upwards of $6.5 million in fines for "willful and repeated lapses in Verizon's telephone service." Interestingly, it's reported that Verizon actually has fessed up to some service lapses, and it made a point to explain that it has been "simply overwhelmed with demand for the FiOS service." More specifically, it "acknowledged hiccups in repair service amid strong demand for its FiOS services," but has promised to bring things back up to par hastily. Tap the read link for more on the mess.