FCC Releases 14th Video Competition Report

The Federal Communications Commission released the fourteenth report on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming. The FCC focuses on developments in the video marketplace in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. The most significant trends since the last report relate to the increased deployment of digital technology, consumers’ rising demands for access to video programming anywhere and anytime, and the evolution of online video from a niche service into a thriving industry.

The FCC categorizes entities into one of three strategic groups – multichannel video programming distributors (“MVPDs” -- companies that offer multiple channels of video programming to consumers for a subscription fee), broadcast television stations, and online video distributors (“OVDs”). For each of these categories the FCC examines industry structure, conduct, and performance.

• Cable MVPDs accounted for almost 60 percent of all MVPD subscribers at the end of 2010. The two DBS MVPDs, DIRECTV and DISH Network, accounted for over 33 percent of MVPD subscribers in 2010.
• Since the last report, full-power television stations completed their transition from analog to digital service. Digital broadcasting gives broadcast stations greater flexibility, allowing them to offer high definition (“HD”) programming, multiple streams of programming of standard definition (“SD”) programming, and/or programming delivered to mobile devices.
• Since the last report, OVDs have emerged as significant providers of video content. The OVD marketplace has expanded considerably, with all of the major providers either entering the market over the last few years or dramatically retooling their approach during that time.