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Who Gets Cable? Why We Don't Know and Why That Matters
Proposing Organization:
Primary Investigators:
Harold Feld, Media Access Project; Greg Rose, Greg Rose & Associates; Scott Sanders, Chicago Media Action
Bounty collected: $5,000
This project responds to a Research Bounty proposed by the Media Access Project. The Bounty sought an accurate count of cable subscribers—a seemingly basic fact in a critical area of telecommunications infrastructure, and an important factor in the regulation of the cable industry. As the FCC determined in the fall of 2007, no such reliable count exists. The research respondents determined that a full count is not feasible within the proposed budget, as neither local, state, or federal authorities keep relevant statistics, and private reporters vary enormously.
The researchers are therefore undertaking to highlight the dramatic inconsistency in cable subscribers and to emphasize why an accurate reporting is critical for formulation of sound media policy at every level. The project team proposes to survey the local franchising authorities (LFAs) in the state of Illinois and determine which do and do not have data on subscribers. Those that do not collect subscriber data directly will be asked how they determine values for franchise fees, which are supposed to be based on cable revenues. The data obtained will be compared to the market and state data available for Illinois. Illinois presents the following advantages: the number of LFAs is manageable and includes a reasonable mix of markets from a top-ten market (Chicago), to mid-range markets, to rural areas/small markets. This study will have positive effects in the same way that studies of markets for media content have had positive effects in highlighting the existing problems and the need for regulatory reform.