WASHINGTON -- The dysfunctional relationship between the cable television and telephone industries reached new depths this week as Bell Atlantic Corp. asked the Federal Communications Commission to punish a leading cable industry trade association for wasting the commission's time.
In a filing Thursday, the Philadelphia-based phone company accused the National Cable Television Association of inundating the FCC with frivolous and repetitive challenges to Bell Atlantic's application to provide video services over its phone lines.
Bell Atlantic's motion follows a new petition NCTA filed with the FCC last week, asking commissioners to deny the phone company's bid to conduct a market trial of "video dial tone" services in Northern Virginia.
Bell Atlantic charged in its response that the cable petition is a ploy to divert the commission's energies from processing applications.
"They keep regurgitating the same old issues that have been addressed and resolved," said Michel Daley, a Bell Atlantic spokesman.
He suggested a fine might be appropriate.
That might be wishful thinking. Under FCC rules, even if the commission were to uphold a complaint of frivolous filings against a nonlicensee such as the NCTA, the most severe action it could take for a first offense would be to issue a citation.
The dust-up reflects Bell Atlantic's growing impatience to get on with its ambitious plans to compete with the cable industry for the consumer's video entertainment dollar. Giving a little nudge to the FCC, the company noted that its application has been pending more than a year.
Meanwhile, the cable industry has aggressively fought the telephone companies' plans to enter their market.
FCC Chairman Reed Hundt recently noted that cable industry filings in video dial tone cases had generated more than 33,000 pages of legal paperwork.
David Nicoll, an attorney with the cable association, said his organization's filings were legitimate comments on substantive issues.
"All we want is for Bell Atlantic to play by fair rules -- instead they're engaging in rhetoric," he said.
Andy Sernovitz, president of the Interactive Television Association, said the filings and counterfilings showed that both side are "going to fight like dogs to defend their turf."
Mr. Sernovitz, whose organization includes both telephone and cable companies, proclaimed himself a "neutral" in the fray.
"I think everyone shows excellent grammatical structure and penmanship on both sides," he said.