Effective competition
Effective Competition is defined by Section 623(l)(1) of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 as amended:
- The term ''effective competition'' means that--
- Fewer than 30 percent of the households in the franchise area subscribe to the cable service of a cable system;
- The franchise area is--
- Served by at least two unaffiliated multichannel video programming distributors each of which offers comparable video programming to at least 50 percent of the households in the franchise area; and
- The number of households subscribing to programming services offered by multichannel video programming distributors other than the largest multichannel video programming distributor exceeds 15 percent of the households in the franchise area;
- A multichannel video programming distributor operated by the franchising authority for that franchise area offers video programming to at least 50 percent of the households in that franchise area; or
- A local exchange carrier or its affiliate (or any multichannel video programming distributor using the facilities of such carrier or its affiliate) offers video programming services directly to subscribers by any means (other than direct-to-home satellite services) in the franchise area of an unaffiliated cable operator which is providing cable service in that franchise area, but only if the video programming services so offered in that area are comparable to the video programming services provided by the unaffiliated cable operator in that area.
FCC Orders granting effective competition
FCC Charter Order - FCC 19-110
Auburn | Hadley | Southampton |
Belchertown | Hampden | Spencer |
Brimfield | Harvard | Stockbridge |
Brookfield | Holden | Sturbridge |
Charlton | Lee | Upton |
Chicopee | Lenox | Uxbridge |
Dalton | Ludlow | West Boylston |
Dudley | Paxton | West Brookfield |
East Brookfield | Pepperell | Wilbraham |
East Longmeadow | Pittsfield | Worcester |
Easthampton | Richmond |
FCC Comcast/Cox Order - DA 20-1461
Acushnet | Gardner | Plainville |
Agawam | Gloucester | Provincetown |
Amesbury | Granby | Quincy |
Amherst | Greenfield | Rehoboth |
Attleboro | Groveland | Rockport |
Avon | Hanson | Salem |
Berkley | Harwich | Saugus |
Beverly | Hatfield | Scituate |
Blackstone | Haverhill | Sharon |
Bridgewater | Holland | Somerset |
Brockton | Holyoke | South Hadley |
Buckland | Hyannis | Southwick |
Cambridge | Lancaster | Springfield |
Carlisle | Longmeadow | Sunderland |
Chatham | Lowell | Swansea |
Clinton | Manchester | Templeton |
Concord | Merrimac | Ware |
Dartmouth | Milton | Warren |
Deerfield | Montague | Wellfleet |
Dennis | New Bedford | West Bridgewater |
Dighton | Newbury | West Springfield |
Dracut | Newburyport | Westfield |
East Bridgewater | Northampton | Westhampton |
Eastham | Norton | Weymouth |
Essex | Orleans | Whitman |
Fairhaven | Palmer | Williamsburg |
Falmouth | Peabody | Winthrop |
Fall River | Pelham | Yarmouth |
Freetown |
FCC Comcast Order - DA 16-1389
Boston |
FCC Time Warner Order - DA 16-611
Adams |
Ashby | Holliston | Norfolk |
Ashland | Hopedale | North Andover |
Bellingham | Hull | Norwell |
Billerica | Lakeville | Randolph |
Chelmsford | Leominster | Shirley |
Cohasset | Marblehead | Stow |
Danvers | Maynard | Templeton |
Dover | Medway | Topsfield |
Duxbury | Mendon | Walpole |
Easton | Middleton | Wayland |
Foxborough | Milford | Weston |
Hanover | Millis | Wrentham |
Hingham |
FCC Public Notice - DA 15-1441
Chelsea | Malden | Medford |
FCC Time Warner Order - DA 15-164
Adams | Clarksburg | North Adams |
FCC Order - DA 14-407 and FCC Erratum - DA 14-586
Mansfield | Revere | Tauton |
North Attleboro |
FCC Charter Order - DA 13-2197
Boylston | Leicester | Northbridge |
FCC Charter Order - DA 13-2008
Auburn | Hinsdale | Southborough |
Barre | Hubbardston | Southbridge |
Berlin | Lanesborough | Sutton |
Brookfield | Millbury | Upton |
Charlton | Millville | Uxbridge |
Douglas | North Brookfield | Webster |
Dudley | Northborough | West Brookfield |
Dunstable | Oakham | West Stockbridge |
East Brookfield | Oxford | Westborough |
Grafton | Pepperell | Westport |
Groton | Rutland | Worcester |
FCC Time Warner Order - DA 11-270
Cheshire |
Braintree |
Bedford | Mattapoisett | Norwood |
Canton | Medfield | Rochester |
Lawrence | Melrose | Tyngsborough |
Lynnfield | Methuen | Wilmington |
Marion | Middleborough |
FCC Comcast Order - DA 08-2632
Salisbury |
FCC Comcast Order - DA 08-2633
Rowley | Sherborn |
FCC Comcast Order - DA 08-1594
Abington | Falmouth | Plymouth |
Aquinnah | Halifax | Plympton |
Bourne | Kingston | Rockland |
Carver | Marshfield | Sandwich |
Chilmark | Oak Bluffs | Tisbury |
Edgartown | Pembroke | West Tisbury |
FCC Comcast Order - DA 08-1507
Acton | Ipswich | Sudbury |
Andover | Lincoln | Swampscott |
Belmont | Littleton | Tewksbury |
Boxborough | Lynn | Wellesley |
Boxford | Marlborough | Wenham |
Franklin | Nahant | West Newbury |
Georgetown | North Reading | Westwood |
Hamilton | Reading | Winchester |
Hopkinton | Stoneham | Woburn |
FCC Comcast Order - DA 08-1334
Fitchburg | Nantucket Island | Westminster |
Lunenburg | Truro |
FCC Comcast Order - DA 08-1215
Brookline | Natick | Waltham |
Burlington | Wakefield | Watertown |
Framingham |
Ashburnham | Gill | Seekonk |
Ayer | Granville | Shelburne |
Bernardston | Hardwick | Townsend |
Chester | Hudson | Wareham |
Conway | Huntington | Westford |
Erving | Monson | Winchendon |
Everett | Northfield |
FCC Time Warner Order - DA 08-875
Athol | Orange | Sheffield |
Great Barrington |
Dedham | Needham |
Lexington |
FCC MediaOne Order - DA 99-1686
Arlington | Newton |
FCC Time Warner Order - DA 99-285
Somerville |
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirms FCC ruling that AT&T TV Now streaming service provides effective competition to cable
On December 18, 2020, the First Circuit denied the Department’s appeal of an FCC Order that found that AT&T TV Now constitutes effective competition to Charter. As a result of this ruling, there is currently no regulation of cable rates. The Department had been the last government agency in the country to have maintained any form of cable rate regulation. MADTC v FCC
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