FSF Comments – Competition in the Communications Marketplace Is Strong

Xfinity Mobile had 1.2 million subscribers at the end of 2019,15 and nearly 4 million by the end of 2021.16 In the first quarter of 2022, Xfinity Mobile's subscribership grew to 4.3 million.17 Charter's Spectrum Mobile brand grew to about 3.5 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2021,18 up from 1.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.19 And Spectrum Mobile's total subscribership has quad. [...] There Is Strong Evidence of Effective Intermodal Broadband Competition The RAY BAUM'S Act of 2018 requires that the Commission consider the effect of intermodal competition on the communications marketplace.38 In the Commission's 2020 Communications Marketplace Report proceeding, Free State Foundation scholars filed comments that provided strong evidence of intermodal competition in the broadband. [...] The consumption of video in 2022 is untethered not just from the prime-time schedule, but from the very concept and physical manifestation of the "television." Without question, the marketplace significance of MVPDs has diminished to an extent that it no longer appropriately serves as the foundation for one-sided regulation. [...] According to Kagan Consumer Insights, the amount of time spent watching subscription video-on-demand (VOD) content during the first quarter of 2022 was even higher: 45% of an average of 4+ hours per day in households with a "smart TV" and 43% in those without.70 One of the primary reasons for the explosive growth in the amount of time spent viewing streamed video also represents perhaps the most s. [...] Competition Compels Reassessment of the MVPD Regulatory Model and Elimination of Outdated Regulations In all regards, the state of the video marketplace in 2022 demands a de novo assessment of the fundamental justification, let alone need, for government intrusion.