Technologie i telekomunikacja · 29.08.1996

Cable Pricing Flexibility

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (``NPRM''), the Commission proposes to modify its current ratemaking rules in order to allow operators greater flexibility in pricing their regulated tiers of cable service while continuing to protect subscribers from unreasonable rates. Specifically, the Commission proposes to permit a cable operator that has established rates for its regulated service tiers to decrease the rate for its basic service tier (``BST''), and then take a corresponding increase in the rate for its cable programming services tiers (``CPSTs''), as long as the combined rate for the two tiers does not generate revenues for the operator that exceed what would otherwise be permitted under our rules. The Commission tentatively concludes that this proposal would remove an unnecessary restriction on an operator's pricing strategy, while maintaining effective constraints on the overall rates paid by subscribers, thus resulting in pricing which more nearly simulates that of a competitive market. The Commission seeks comment on this proposal which was adopted concurrently with a Report and Order requiring operators to use the same methodology when calculating rates for their BST