Cable Industry Issue Spotlight

Texas Universal Service Fund Reform
On Friday, April 25, 2008, the three-member Public Utility Commission (PUC) unanimously approved a settlement agreement reached by several phone companies, PUC staff, the USF Reform Coalition and the Office of Public Utility Council to reduce consumers’ largest telephone tax, the Texas Universal Service Fund (TUSF), by $144 million. Read USF Reform Coalition Press Release.

Learn More About the Texas Universal Service Fund +

Digital Television Transition

By law, American television stations will end all analog broadcasts on February 17, 2009 and begin broadcasting exclusively in a digital format. This frees up spectrum for police and other emergency personnel, plus provides better video and sound quality, more channels and choice. Television sets connected to cable, satellite or a telephone company video service provider should not be affected, but TV sets that are not connected to cable or satellite, or do not have a built-in digital tuner, will need a converter box to continue receiving and displaying broadcast television after the transition occurs. Learn More +


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Quotes & Stats

84% of all adults had heard of the digital transition next February, nearly double the rate from six months earlier. However, about 34% of all U.S. households are at risk of losing broadcast reception to at least one TV set as a result of the transition.

Leichtman Research Group, June 10, 2008

According to the Proposed Final Order, money collected from consumers through the (Universal Service Fund) tax and distributed as a subsidy to the phone companies will be reduced by $144 million by Jan. 1, 2012.

USF Coalition Press Release, April 9, 2008

 

High-speed lines increased by 22% during the first half of 2007, from 82.8 million to 100.9 million lines in service...Cable modem service represented 50.6% of these lines.

FCC Report, March 2008

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