NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C.  20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: 
December 18, 2007 Mary Diamond (202) 418-2388
FCC Adopts Rules to Promote Video Programming Diversity by Ensuring 
New Video Programmers Can Enter and Compete in Video Market
Order Will Increase Diversity in Programming and Choices for Consumers
Washington, D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to promote 
video programming diversity by ensuring new video programmers can enter and compete in the 
video market. The Order adopted by the Commission today sets the number of subscribers a cable 
operator may serve at 30 percent nationwide. In a further notice also adopted, the Commission seeks 
comment on vertical ownership limits and cable and broadcast attribution rules. Today’s action will 
increase competition in the multichannel video programming market and provide consumers with 
greater programming choices and diversity. 
The 1992 Cable Act was enacted to promote increased competition in the cable television 
and related markets and to foster a diverse, robust, and competitive market in the acquisition and 
delivery of multichannel video programming. To further these goals, Congress directed the 
Commission to conduct proceedings to establish reasonable limits on the number of subscribers a 
cable operator may serve – a “horizontal limit” – and the number of channels a cable operator may 
devote to its affiliated programming networks – a “vertical” or “channel occupancy” limit.    
The 30 percent limit, set first in 1993 and modified in 1999, was challenged by Time Warner 
in 2001. The DC Circuit Court then remanded it back to the FCC seeking further justification. That 
remand has been pending six years at the Commission. 
The 30 percent cable horizontal ownership limit set by the Commision will ensure that no 
single cable operator can create a barrier to a video programming network’s entry into the market or 
cause a video programming network to exit the market simply by declining to carry the network.  In 
devising a limit to achieve this goal, the Commission first determined the minimum number of 
subscribers a network needs in order to survive in the marketplace, and then estimated the 
percentage of subscribers a network is likely to serve once it secures a carriage contract.  
The Commission seeks further comment on key issues relating to the appropriate vertical 
ownership limit – and how to address related attribution including issues:
1) The appropriate methodology for determining the limit;
2) How to define the relevant programming and distribution markets;  
3) The extent to which vertically integrated cable operators have an incentive to engage in 
anticompetitive behavior that could lead to foreclosure of entry by unaffiliated programmers; and
4) The validity of certain academic studies and whether they establish that vertical 
foreclosure is occurring despite recent changes in the marketplace. 
2
A full copy of the report will be available shortly at www.fcc.gov/mb.
Action by the Commission December 18, 2007, by Fourth Report and Order and Further 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 07-219).  Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps and 
Adelstein, with Commissioners Tate and McDowell dissenting.  Separate statements issued by 
Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell.  
MB Docket No. 92-264
CS Docket No. 98-82
-FCC-
Media Bureau contacts: Royce Sherlock (202) 418-7030