Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER ANNA M. GOMEZ

Re: 	Promoting Competition in the American Economy: Cable Operator and DBS Provider Billing Practices, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. 

 As the video market continues to evolve at a rapid pace that shows no signs of abating, initiating this rulemaking to seek comment on adopting rules around cable operators’ and direct broadcast satellite providers’ assessment of early termination fees and billing cycle fees is timely.  Consumers have more choices than ever before, and it is imperative that we understand whether such billing practices have the effect of inhibiting subscribers from choosing the video services they want or result in consumers paying fees for video services they did not choose to receive as we consider these rules.   
Thank you to the Chairwoman for her leadership on this item and for working with me to ensure that we ask broad questions about the state of the video marketplace as we consider these important rules.  I look forward to reviewing a robust record.  Thank you also to the Media Bureau for its hard work on this item.  







2