FCC Keeps Status Quo on Regulatory Fees

FCC KEEPS STATUS QUO ON REGULATORY FEES
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
The Federal Communications Commission Monday saved the satellite-TV industry millions of dollars by rejecting a cable-industry plan that called for hiking federal regulatory fees on their chief video competitors. The cable plan, sponsored by the industry’s two leading trade organizations, called for trimming the $50 million cable operators owe the U.S. Treasury in fiscal-year 2006 and recovering the deficit from DirecTV and EchoStar Communications, both of which opposed the idea in a joint campaign. In an order establishing the fee regime for the current year, the FCC said the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the American Cable Association failed to meet the legal test established by Congress to justify changing the manner in which the agency collects regulatory fees. The FCC is required by law to fund nearly 100% of its budget by collecting fees from regulated entities. The Commission's budget is about $300 million. Without reference to any specific dispute, FCC Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, alone in commenting on the agency’s decision, called for change. “In a rapidly evolving communications marketplace, we need to look for ways to ensure that our regulatory fee methodologies continue to reflect the industries we regulate,” Copps said in a one-paragraph statement.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6353900.html?display=Breaking+News

* FCC Order
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-102A1.doc

* Commissioner Copps:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-102A2.doc

* Commissioner Adelstein
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-102A3.doc