The 1996 Act scraps the FCC's old video dialtone (VDT) rules, which limited telcos to common-carriage video service and generally excluded them from programming. Telcos are now entitled to provide video programming and to do it through radio, common carriage, or a new delivery medium called an open video system (OVS).

OVS is still taking shape; a pending FCC rulemaking will resolve many of the details. But some things are certain. OVS will compete with other multichannel delivery media -- cable, wireless, and satellite -- and will create new service options for consumers. And its legal status will be a strange new hybrid of the familiar legal categories of transmission: common carriage, radio, and cable. For example, OVS operators will have to share their systems with outside programmers, and will be barred from discriminating among those programmers or charging them unreasonable rates. But OVS operators are not supposed to be considered common carriers, and will be subject to only some of the regulations applicable to broadcast and cable.

This seminar considers OVS's impact on the future video marketplace. Questions to be addressed include:

• What exactly is an OVS? How do its regulated and unregulated aspects square with one another?
• How will OVS pricing decisions be made with respect to outside programmers and end users?
• Who may provide OVS, and what would be the competitive result if telcos enjoyed an exclusive right to this medium? How will the regulatory obligations of an OVS differ from those of other media, and what will be the competitive effects of those differences?
• How will mandatory carriage obligations work as a practical matter if systems span different communities and cable franchise areas and if customers select programming from various providers' packages?
• What will the user interface be like in such a system, and how will channel positioning and navigational strategies and advantages play out?
• How will OVS operators tailor their services to community needs while observing the common-carriage elements of the regulatory scheme?

Issues to be considered include: What is an OVS? Who may provide and use it? And how will it affect competition and consumers?

FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for OVS

Moderator:
Eli M. Noam, Professor and Director, The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information

Our distinguished panel includes:

• Daniel Brenner, VP for Law & Regulatory Policy, NCTA
• Barry Forbes, Exec. Director, Alliance for Community Media
• Meredith Jones, Chief, FCC Cable Services Bureau
• Monroe Price, Professor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
• William Squadron, Senior VP, The News Corp (Fox)
• Karen Stevenson, General Counsel, Tele-TV
• Leslie Vial, General Attorney, Bell Atlantic