09/22/2016

ACA Praises FCC On Commitment To Regulatory Fee Parity Between DBS And Cable/IPTV

American Cable Association President and CEO Matthew M. Polka issued the following statement on Sept. 6 on the Federal Communications Commission's new order that will require direct broadcast satellite providers DirecTV and Dish each to pay a 27-cent, per-subscriber regulatory fee in fiscal 2016, which includes a three-cent fee to help the FCC accomplish a facilities reduction:

"ACA is very pleased to see the FCC remains firmly committed to establishing true regulatory fee parity between cable/IPTV providers and satellite TV's DirecTV and Dish - respectively, the second-largest and fourth-largest multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Achieving this goal will mean that the burden of supporting the FCC's Media Bureau is distributed fairly among all types of MVPDs. As the FCC noted, the Media Bureau's oversight and regulatory work related to cable/IPTV providers and DBS providers are similar. In ACA's view, fee parity is also essential because smaller MVPDs should not be put in a position, by government policy, of subsidizing their largest pay-TV competitors."  Read more