Dozens of Small MVPDs Write FCC Against Set-Top Proposals
New set-top box rules could put smaller pay-TV providers out of business, dozens of small multichannel video programming distributors told the FCC in similar filings in docket 16-42 in recent weeks. “We are troubled by the Commission's proposed rules,” said…
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Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, a cable company with 4,000 subscribers in Oklahoma and Texas. Panhandle's letter uses similar and in some places the exact same language as the submissions from 7,000-subscriber Glasgow Electric Plant Board in Kentucky and 1,300-subscriber TrioTel in South Dakota, as do many of the other small MVPD filers. The American Cable Association assisted the MVPDs with making the filings, ACA told us. “Our company cannot afford the additional regulatory costs of the proposed Navigation Device rules, estimated to be at least $1 million per system, or any other proposals that require such substantial costs,” said 750-customer Nelson County Cablevision, of Lovingston, Virginia. “We could not offset or otherwise tolerate these costs even if we diverted our limited capital spending and spent our cash reserves.”