Cable Ownership Caps

CABLE OWNERSHIP CAPS
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
The Media Access Project filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of 14 organizations applauding reports that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated an order reaffirming the FCC’s 30% limit on the number of cable subscribers any one company can control. The letter responds to statements by cable incumbents in recent weeks that the cable market has become so competitive that the FCC should repeal the ownership limit. “When incumbent cable operators can simultaneously announce both record per subscriber profits and a rate increase, “effective competition” does not exist. When one considers that many of the same
large incumbent cable operators consistently rank near the bottom of every customer satisfaction survey, the self-serving assertion of cable operators that ‘no real problem exists’ and that the Commission therefore ‘lacks authority’ to impose a 30% limit become laughable,” the letter states. The organizations signing the letter are: Common Cause, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, United Church of Christ, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Free Press, U.S. PIRG, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Media Alliance, Center for Digital Democracy, Center for Creative Voices, National Alliance of Media Arts and Culture, CCTV Center for Media and Democracy, and Reclaim the Media.
http://www.mediaaccess.org/press/3-21-07%20MAP%20Press%20Release.pdf
* Read the letter
http://www.mediaaccess.org/filings/3-21-07%20MAP%20Letter%20In%20Supportof%20Cable%20Cap.pdf