On Wednesday, the FCC adopted a Report and Order that adopts a schedule of regulatory fees to assess and collect $322.04 million for the 2018 fiscal year and the Commission’s portion of funds in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018.
In doing so, the FCC moved regulatory fees for cable and IPTV providers and DBS providers closer to parity. The American Cable Association is happy about that.
In particular, ACA President/CEO Matthew M. Polka appreciates “this year’s significant decrease” in the cable/IPTV rate.
In fiscal 2018, the cable/IPTV annual fee will be 77 cents per subscriber, down from last year’s rate of 95 cents.
Concurrently, the DBS annual fee per subscriber will be 48 cents, up 10 cents from the prior year. This impacts DISH Network and DirecTV, the two satellite providers operating in the U.S.
“ACA appreciates the FCC’s ongoing efforts to close the gap between the regulatory fees paid by cable operators and satellite TV providers,” Polka said. “With the difference in fees for fiscal 2018 now being as close as it is, ACA hopes the FCC will complete its march toward complete parity when the issue is considered again next year.”
Regulated multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) combined will contribute $62.3 million in fiscal 2018.
What about regulatory fees for fiscal 2018 for broadcast media?
There’s a lengthy appendix that offers this information, which appears as such:
Annual regulatory fees for AM radio CPs stand at $550; for FM radio CPs they are $965.
Great. Higher fees. Hooray.
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