The Mandatory Origination Requirement for Cable Systems

Henry Geller

ResearchPublished 1974

This report examines the 1969 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provision that cable systems originate their own programming, and suggests that the public interest would be better served by requiring systems to provide facilities for local TV access, rather than their own programming. It notes that access is now required in the major TV markets, and urges the end of mandatory origination in such markets. Outside the major markets, the FCC should require systems to provide minimum access facilities wherever feasible; based on analysis of cost and experience to date, the report concludes that systems with 3,500 or more subscribers can feasibly provide such minimum access. The report also suggests that the FCC delete fairness and equal opportunities requirements now applicable to programming originated by cable systems.

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Geller, Henry, The Mandatory Origination Requirement for Cable Systems. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1974. https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R1548.html.
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