Consumer Protection

MACC works to see that consumers receive the services they pay for and that their concerns are resolved quickly. You should always contact your Cable TV Provider first and give them an opportunity to resolve the problem. If you cannot resolve the problem with Comcast or Frontier, contact MACC. MACC will make every attempt to resolve your problem with your cable television provider.

MACC enforces a rigid set of customer service standards.  Offices and telephones must be staffed adequately to serve subscribers, appointments must be kept, outages must be fixed within 24 hours, and television signals must be strong. MACC monitors these and other standards to ensure subscribers get what they pay for.

Effective in 2014, MACC was pre-empted from regulating most cable service rates by the FCC. The FCC has determined that the MACC area has sufficient competition to constrain rates.

Since 2013, Comcast, Frontier, and other cable operators, as well as satellite providers, have implemented a variety of Sports Programming Fees and Broadcast Fees. These fees are described by the companies as “transparency” or a way to recoup the cost they pay to sports networks (e.g., ESPN and CSNNW) and the local network affiliates (KATU-2, KGW-8, KOIN-6 and others) that provide programming on the cable system.

Consumer advocates believe these fees are not appropriate or even hypocritical, because a portion of some fees are based on costs imposed on Comcast’s cable operations by other Comcast holdings.

Following the FCC’s 2013 Order, however, there is little MACC or other local governments can do to formally address rate increases. We recommend shopping around and contacting your cable provider to ensure you are getting the best deal available.