3rd Annual Video Competition Report

Section 628(g) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, ("Communications Act") requires the Commission to report annually to Congress on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming. Congress imposed this annual reporting requirement in the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 ("1992 Cable Act"), as one means of obtaining information on the competitive status of markets for the delivery of multichannel video programming delivery that would aid both Congress and the Commission in determining when there was competition sufficient to reduce or eliminate many of the regulatory restraints imposed on the cable industry by that legislation. This is the Commission's third annual report ("1996 Report") to Congress submitted in compliance with this statutory requirement. In this 1996 Report, we update our two prior reports and provide data and information that summarizes the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming. In the two prior reports we described the methodology and theory underlying our competitive analysis. We do not repeat that information in this report other than in an abbreviated fashion, and provide reference to the relevant discussion in prior reports. The information and analysis provided in this third report are based on publicly available data, filings in various Commission rulemaking proceedings, and information submitted by commenters in response to a Notice of Inquiry ("Notice") in this docket.