§ 76.503 — National Subscriber Limits

(a) No cable operator shall serve more than 30 percent of all multichannel-video programming subscribers nationwide through multichannel video programming distributors owned by such operator or in which such cable operator holds an attributable interest.

(b) -(d) [Reserved]

(e) “Multichannel video-programming subscribers” means subscribers who receive multichannel video-programming from cable systems, direct broadcast satellite services, direct-to-home satellite services, BRS/EBS, local multipoint distribution services, satellite master antenna television services (as defined in § 76.5(a)(2)), and open video systems.

(f) “Cable operator” means any person or entity that owns or has an attributable interest in an incumbent cable franchise.

(g) Prior to acquiring additional multichannel video-programming providers, any cable operator that serves 20% or more of multichannel video-programming subscribers nationwide shall certify to the Commission, concurrent with its applications to the Commission for transfer of licenses at issue in the acquisition, that no violation of the national subscriber limits prescribed in this section will occur as a result of such acquisition.