There are several current business and regulatory issues that are raising the cost of doing internet and video business for small and medium-sized operators in Rural America. Members of ACA Connects traveled to Washington this week for a summit intended to get the attention of elected officials and suggest remedies to high consumer bills.
“The message that we will carry to [Capitol Hill] is one of affordability, and it’s not only affordability for customers. It’s a need to keep the cost of providing broadband and video affordable,” said ACA President and CEO Grant Spellmeyer during the ACA Connects Summit in downtown Washington, D.C.
ACA Connects’ legislative agenda includes a long list of issues. Leading issues include:
Permitting reform: “We spend a lot of time talking about permitting — right-of-way access barriers — and for good reason. Those are the types of pain points that can really kill the momentum for broadband deployment in your communities,” said ACA Connects Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Brian Hurley during the summit.
Tom Cohen, partner in the law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren, praised the permitting reform section of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s Build America agenda. In September 2025, the Commissioned opened a Notice of Inquiry to seek possible federal preemption of state and local barriers to wireline broadband construction. Possible future rules could resemble preemption rules already in place to promote 5G and 6G wireless networks
Cohen said he hopes Carr will soon follow up the NOI with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. “What we need is for the federal government to, sort of wave its finger at states and municipalities and say, we can’t block people getting into this business,” he said.
Non-deployment funds: Many in Washington are watching the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) as it decides how to distribute $21 billion in non-deployment funds from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. NTIA has heard calls to fund everything from state broadband affordability programs to programs to improve rural middle-mile connectivity.
“We have suggested to NTIA that there’s a significant opportunity to use [non-deployment funds] on right-of-way related issues,” Spellmeyer said during the ACA Connects summit. “I’m sure 50 states would have 50 different ideas about how to do that, but whatever could be done to facilitate approval of right of way, not only government right of way, but utility right of away, at a reasonable cost, is good for our members, and it’s good for the public in terms of getting deployment done.”
Retransmission consent: A provision of the Cable Act of 1992 requires all cable TV and other video providers to carry all local broadcast signals. However, broadcasters have the option of waiving that “must-carry” provision and entering negotiations with video providers to pay for carriage. Fast forward to the 2020s, where streaming services are not subject to the Cable Act, putting ACA Connects members at a competitive disadvantage.
ACA Connects’ legislative goal is eventual repeal of retransmission consent. “Retransmission consent fees are up over 2000% since 2011. Consolidated cable carriage fees have increased by $247 per subscriber per year since 2013,” Spellmeyer said. “It’s unsustainable. It just keeps driving the cost of a video package to unaffordable levels.”
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, who has long been on record favoring a rewrite of the Cable Act, was a featured speaker at the ACA Connects summit.
“We’ve been receiving information from different groups. I wish that we were farther down the road than we are right now,” said Guthrie, who expressed doubt that there would be much movement in the remaining 52 legislative days of the current session to pass legislation.
C-band transition: ACA Connects members rely on C-band spectrum to receive satellite-delivered video programming to their head ends. The FCC, under Congressional mandate, must auction at least 10 MHz of the upper C-band (3.98 GHz to 4.2 GHz) for 5G and 6G carriers by July 2027. ACA hopes to help guide the Commission through a smooth transition.
“Our primary objectives are to make sure that there are adequate transition options in place for our members,” Hurley said at the ACA Connects summit. “[Providers] need different solutions that work for one operator versus another. There needs to be some flexibility there and then, just to make sure that there’s adequate reimbursement to cover those transition expenses.”
