Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN BRENDAN CARR

Re: 	Revisions to Cable Television Rate Regulations, MB Docket No. 02-144; Implementation of Sections of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992: Rate Regulation, MM Docket No. 92-266 and MM Docket No. 93-215; Adoption of Uniform Accounting System for the Provision of Regulated Cable Service, CS Docket No. 94-28 (June 26, 2025).

With all the changes in the video marketplace since 1992, one would suspect that rules adopted 33 years ago might no longer make sense.  In the case of cable rate regulation, that is most certainly the case.  With today’s decision, the Commission is streamlining and eliminating cable rate regulations that serve no purpose in the modern age.

Indeed, while Congress authorized the FCC to impose lots of regulations on cable providers back in 1992, the market has changed significantly since then.  As a result, most of the cable rate regulations that Congress contemplated have been overtaken by events.  But the Commission has continued to maintain those regulations across scores of pages and rules on our books nonetheless.

In 2018, the Commission launched a rulemaking to update this set of regulations.  Today’s decision finally gets that work over the finish line.

Going by the numbers, this Order will get rid of 77 rules or requirements, eliminate 8 forms, and close out several open dockets.  That translates to the removal of 27 pages and 11,475 words from our rulebooks.

Among the most notable reforms, we are exempting small cable systems (those serving 15,000 or fewer subscribers that are owned by cable companies serving 400,000 or fewer subscribers) from rate regulation, altogether.  Notably, not a single commenter argued for keeping these regulations on small businesses.

We’re also getting rid of regulations that have applied to many types of cable equipment and that are no longer relevant today.

	Add it all up, and we’re clearing away obsolete and unworkable rules and freeing up providers to focus on delivering consumers quality service at reasonable rates.

	Thank you to the staff who worked on this item, including Katie Costello, Lori Marbjerg, Maria Mullarkey, Nancy Murphy, Brendan Murray, Sima Nilsson, and Alex Sanjenis.



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