In a Public Notice, the FCC has announced that fewer than 498,000 subscribers is the threshold for the number of subscribers to meet the definition of a small cable operator. Section 76.901(e) of the Commission’s rules says that small cable operators are operators that serve fewer than one percent of all subscribers in the United States and are not affiliated with any entity or entities whose gross annual revenues in the aggregate exceed $250,000,000. These rules allow the Commission to determine what number of subscribers is one percent of all United States subscribers. Seeing that there are 49.8 million cable subscribers in the United States, the FCC has determined that one percent is 498,000 subscribers and an operator serving a number of subscribers fewer than 498,000 is a small cable operator.
