Analysts: Current 'anti-cable' regulatory climate won't change with Clinton in White House

What NCTA chief Michael Powell has called a 'relentless government assault' on the cable industry won't stop with a Hillary Clinton White House, telecom industry analysts say.

"If Hillary Clinton wins the election, there is a possibility that she asks [FCC Chairman Tom]Wheeler to stay on until she can find a suitable replacement," Oppenheimer analyst Tim Horan said to Investors Business Daily. "But we do not expect it would be a long process."

"We also believe there would be not much change to the status quo if Hillary is president."

There is little if any information on the telecom-industry views of Clinton's opposition, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. 

"The current regulatory regime is viewed as openly anti-cable, so at this point investors may believe that any change at all can only be good news," added Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson.

Privately, executives at top cable companies have accused the Obama Administration of being too cozy with Google. The administration has also been openly supportive of FCC proposals that are highly unpopular in the cable industry, such as Wheeler's "Unlock the Box" plan to open the pay-TV set-top business to third-party consumer electronics makers.   

"Clinton is widely viewed as more moderate than President Obama, but she has already singled out broadband in policy statements as something like a public utility," Moffett said.

Meanwhile, writing in a May research report, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin said Clinton's telecom policy would look like "a third Obama term … with the same implications in terms of corporate winers and losers."

According to the most recent polling of the two presidential candidates released by Fox News today, Clinton leads Trump in likely votes by a 44 percent to 38 percent margin. 

For more:
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