How are cable rates regulated?

In its contract with Charter Communications, the Town of Westport, under Section 9.1 (page 21) has the right to exercise rate regulation. The Town may also choose to not exercise such rights, but at any time during the exercising of such rights, the Town must be in compliance with regulations set forth by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The portion of cable rates that can be regulated by the Issuing Authority (Town of Westport) are the basic tier service rates, which include most of your free over-the-air antenna broadcasts from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC as well as our public, educational and government access channels. Premium channels are not subject to regulation by the Issuing Authority or the FCC. For more information, see Regulation of Cable TV Rates - FCC and CATV Regulation of Rate - M.G.L., Chptr 166A, Section 15.