FCC To Vote On New Rules Cracking Down On Shitty Cable TV Fees
For decades, cable TV giants have nickel-and-dimed customers with a rotating assortment of bullshit cable TV fees, whether it’s “regulatory recovery” fee (a misleadingly named fee designed to have you blaming government for industry greed), regional sports fees (charged whether or not you watch sports), or the completely meaningless “broadcast TV fee” (which has ballooned at several times the rate of inflation).
All of the fees are designed to let the company falsely advertise one price, then sock you with a higher rate when the bill comes due. And now that it has a functional voting majority for the first time in several years, the FCC says it’s looking to vote on new rules in December that could put a damper on the industry’s abuse of at least one type of fee. Maybe.
The agency’s breakdown of its proposed plan suggests the proposal will primarily focus on “early termination fees,” charged when users prematurely cancel service while under contract, and “billing cycles fees” requiring customers pay for a complete billing cycle even if they cancel service before the end of the cycle.
“No one wants to pay junk fees for something they don’t want or can’t use. When companies
charge customers early termination fees, it limits their freedom to choose the service they want,” FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel said in a statement. “In an increasingly competitive media market, we should make it easier for Americans to use their purchasing power to promote innovation and expand competition within the industry.”
Details will matter. As will consistent enforcement (not really the FCC’s strong suit).
Early cancellation fees are also only one small part of a much larger ecosystem of bullshit fees. Including the mandatory rental of a cable box. A 2019 Consumer Reports study found that about 24% of consumer bills are comprised of bullshit fees, generating cable giants $28 billion in additional revenue annually. Efforts to protect consumers from these fees has been inconsistent and selective at best.
So while it’s nice to hear the FCC say all the right things about obnoxious fees, and tackle a genuine issue of annoyance (early cancellation fees), the actual scope of the rules — and whether they’re consistently enforced — will matter.
Filed Under: cable tv, competition, early termination fees, fcc, video
Comments on “FCC To Vote On New Rules Cracking Down On Shitty Cable TV Fees”
Bigger Fish To Fry
If there’s no early termination fee, then anyone can cancel at anytime. Which means that the telecom companies are going to push higher prices onto everyone, which means that those of us who can live up to the contract pay more.
An early termination fee for breaking a contract sounds like one of the more legitimate fees. Surely there are others they could have targeted instead.
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Sadly, no. There are condominiums that don’t give people that choice (unless they want to organize a board coup). When I was looking to buy a home, that was an automatic “no” from me; but, years later, many such fees remains in place, so I guess other potential buyers weren’t as bothered.
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I don’t follow. A person terminates their subscription with a telecom company, the telecom company changes a flag in their database. The cost to them is nominal.
You might as well be saying “if someone terminates their contract at the end of its term, telecom companies are going to push higher prices onto everyone”. There’s no difference to Telecom costs, only to Telecom revenue, and that lost revenue is the same in either case.
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Well, they’re telecom companies. So of course they will.
There are all kinds of ways to reward loyalty without early termination fees—for example, 2 free months every time you pay for 10. But the companies are not gonna pass up an excuse to raise prices while blaming it on the government.
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The idea being that people usually get a price break (at least it’s advertised as such) for entering a limited-term contract. There is a give-and-take from both sides.
If the consumer can get out of the contract at any time, then they get all the benefit with no cost. Sounds great! But the company then has zero incentive to offer such a contract in the first place, meaning there are no more price-break-for-contracts offered in the first place, and everybody pays the no-contract pricing.
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…and perhaps get a loyalty bonus if they’re subscribed long enough. There’s no reason it can’t happen, and people would probably be as excited about the “free money” as when the government returns their over-withheld taxes.
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Which means you can also cancel and use a competitor who has more reasonable pricing.
If you find that difficult, maybe the problem you have is with local monopolies, not with the fact that some people might be able to get out of being locked into unfair contracts?
“then anyone can cancel at anytime”
OMG!! .. the horror!!!!
I can see in your utopian future where there are open enrollment days for changing your cable tv conscription service. There will advertisements every ten minutes reminding everyone that your open enrollment time is limited and you had better get moving and sign your sorry ass up.
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No one has to agree to the annual contract. You can always get the higher, month-to-month price.
Need this universally, not just cable
I wish they would just create a general law for all products and services that any “fee” that can’t be removed/waived has to be included in the base, advertised price. They can break it down however they want elsewhere as long as the real price is 50% larger than the fake breakdown. Solving cable leaves a million others that use this same trick.
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Coons should be happy with DSL.
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Backwoods hillbillies don’t even know wtf yer talkin’ ’bout. But ya’ll sure do sound like ya know what yer talkin’ ’bout. Ya know??
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There’s at least one tenured university professor I know of that would love it if Google decided to actually open their damn rural dark fiber to everyone…
DSL isn’t enough for a lot of things…
Just for fun
Over 60 years, Iv watched Tons of fee’s appear on the bills that my family has paid.
And there is a funny thing About that.
Including the $1 tax by Teddy Roosevelt, that NO ONE ever decided to check on in 100 years. We can only Claim back for a few years, (7?) on fee’s and fines. WHY??
The GREAT thing thats happening, is how many people have changed to CELLPHONES, years ago. And have NO chance of getting any money from the Phone corps.
Fee’s ranging from $1-5 per month, with random names. And Every person who ever had a phone could Claim for the last 20 years??
There is a story, of a purchase of a phone thru the Phone company, and they charge a monthly fee to pay for it. BUT in the OLD days, that Fee never ended. And the phone added up to over $1000 in fee’s over the years.
Not responsible for your own choices?
No, they are the cost imposed on your choice of agreement. You signed up for it to get a discounted rate. You broke the contract it’s a legally binding contract and such discounted contracts exist across the consumer spectrum.
When you violate the terms of the contract you suffer the consequences of your legal obligations.
There are real junk fees, like recovery fees. And forced upon the company, and this is, fees from the government mandating certain garbage be shoved when the line to people who don’t want it.
But you’re not going to get much support from the majority of the public when you argue about people not fulfilling their contractual obligations