Trade Group Pleased With FCC Proposal Creating Fee Parity Between DBS, Cable
PITTSBURGH, September 2, 2014 – American Cable Association President and CEO Matthew M. Polka issued the following statement regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to exempt entities from paying regulatory fees if the sum of all their liabilities for all categories of regulatory fees for the fiscal year is less than $500.00:
“ACA is pleased that the FCC has raised its de minimis threshold for paying regulatory fees from $10 to $500 to provide more relief to smaller entities. ACA has more than 100 members that serve fewer than 500 subscribers. Based on this year’s cable regulatory fee rate of $0.99 per subscriber, many of these small operators likely will be relieved from regulatory costs that can be reinvested in their networks and used to keep rates down for consumers when their fee obligation is calculated next year.
“In addition, we are extremely pleased that the FCC – after many years of encouragement by independent cable operators – is proposing to require Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) providers to pay regulatory fees to cover some of the Media Bureau’s costs to oversee the video services of DirecTV and DISH Network. If implemented, the change would create greater regulatory fee parity and end the practice of requiring cable operators to shoulder nearly the entire burden of Media Bureau oversight of the multichannel video programming distributor community. It has never made sense to us that a small cable operator with a few thousand subscribers ought to be paying regulatory fees in a manner that amounts to a subsidy for the two major satellite TV companies each serving millions of subscribers.”
About the American Cable Association: Based in Pittsburgh, the American Cable Association is a trade organization representing about 850 smaller and medium-sized, independent cable companies who provide broadband services for nearly 7 million cable subscribers primarily located in rural and smaller suburban markets across America. Through active participation in the regulatory and legislative process in Washington, D.C., ACA’s members work together to advance the interests of their customers and ensure the future competitiveness and viability of their business. For more information, visit https://acaconnects.org/