FCC sides with cable in Verizon dispute (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission voted on Friday to bar Verizon Communications Inc from marketing to customers to talk them out of a decision to switch their phone service to cable, a source at the agency said on Friday.

A majority of the FCCs five commissioners voted to uphold a complaint by U.S. cable operators that Verizon improperly used customer data in its marketing efforts to dissuade customers from switching.

The FCC faced a midnight deadline for a ruling on the complaint, which was filed in February by Comcast Corp, Time Warner Cable Inc and others.

Although the commissioners voted ahead of the deadline, the agency did not publicly issue a final decision on the matter on Friday night because the release of the decision had not yet been authorized by all the commissioners, the source said.

Both Verizon and telephone industry leader AT&T Inc offer high-speed Internet and video services that compete with cable, while cable providers sell phone services.

The complaint focuses on cases where Verizon has been notified that a customer intends to switch phone service, and whether the company can subsequently undertake marketing efforts to try to keep them as customers.

Verizon has argued that upholding the cable companies complaint would put it at an unfair disadvantage and would deny customers full information about their options.

(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)