Reforming the FCC’s Video Competition Policy

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission released its 18th Video Competition Report on Jan 17. Data points in the report demonstrate persuasively that the video services market is characterized by competition among cable, satellite, and telecommunication providers of video subscription services as well as disruptive online video services. The market also is being transformed by the proliferation of media streaming devices and video apps.

Yet for all the technological advancements and proliferation of choices now available to consumers, much of the video market is still subject to regulatory restrictions that originated in the early 1990s, if not earlier. These regulatory burdens, and the uncertainty posed by the threat of new regulations based on leftover cable analog-era perceptions, impose costs and inhibit investment in advanced digital technologies and business models.

[Randolph J. May is president and Seth L. Cooper is a senior fellow of the Free State Foundation]