FCC votes to ban exclusive apartment-cable deals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday voted to ban exclusive deals between building owners and cable television providers to give apartment and condominium dwellers a greater choice of pay television services.

The FCC approved a new rule nullifying existing exclusivity provisions and prohibiting any new ones, saying the deals are unfair and prevent new competitors from providing service in many apartment and condo buildings.

"There is no reason that consumers living in apartment buildings should be locked into one service provider," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement.

The new rule has been backed by telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon, which have been pushing into the subscription television business around the United States by offering packages of TV, broadband Internet and phone services.

Phone carriers immediately applauded the FCC vote.

"Without commission action, the anti-competitive effects would be felt for many years as these exclusive agreements may last for several years or even perpetually," AT&T said in a statement.

The change was opposed by cable providers such as Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc

Comcast issued a statement on Wednesday saying that nullifying the exclusive contracts would lead to "years of litigation" and actually hurt apartment and condo dwellers because the deals included concessions negotiated by the building owners.

"The net result is that many consumers are likely to wind up paying more for services if the FCC's interference in the competitive marketplace stands," a Comcast official said in a statement.

The cable companies and the industry's lobbying arm, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, has also questioned whether the FCC has the authority to interfere with contracts between cable companies and building owners.

(Reporting by Peter Kaplan)