FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Is Costing America’s Cable Viewers $20+ Billion Annually. Are You Being Overcharged about $350 a Year?
§ FCC Claims that “Real” Prices are Going Down. — — Wrong.
§ Since 2017, Broadcast Fees went up 410%
§ Over 65+ Million customers could be impacted.
§ $28 Charge Spectrum NYC) Taxed and surcharged as well.
§ Not included in the advertised price, Not government mandated.
§ Are you Overcharged — $350+ per sub?
Note: As we explain, these are estimates, and the exact amount varies by provider and state. And this is one of multiple made up fees. Where is the FCC report on this overcharging, much less actions to remove junk fees, (also called ‘made up fee’ or ‘fake fees’)?
The FCC website discusses these 2 exciting actions by Chairman Carr December 3, 2025 — news releases
And if 2026 is supposed to be about affordability, and there are new plans afoot, we just published a comparison of a triple play offering (broadband-internet,, cable TV an streaming, and phone) from Free Telecom in France with 8 Gigs of capacity and speed in both directions for about $40 dollars vs the Spectrum NY offering that cost $244 a month for 100mbps in 1 direction.
Again, that’s $40 vs $244 for inferior services. That’s’ $200+ dollars a month difference. Where’s the investigations by the FCC?
This one made up junk fee called the Broadcast TV and Sports (or other names) is one of multiple made up fees added to America’s communications services. Brendan Carr became general counsel at the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai in 2017, when this fee was only $5.50 a month.
And in 2025, it has now reached new heights of $28 a month. — and counting additional taxes applied, this is over $350 a year.
These fees are direct revenue to the provider and rate increases to the customer, regardless of what the hype and stated purpose claims.
Note: We use the specific Spectrum NYC bill because it has proven to fit the averages when we collected actual bills or compared to other surveys done with actual bills collected, like previous Consumed Union billing information for communications.
Google’s AI stated: “The average combined broadcast TV and regional sports network (RSN) fees on a typical cable bill in 2024–2025 range from approximately $20 to over $50 per month, with specific fees varying significantly by provider and location.
So, while Chairman Carr spends time removing inactive proceedings or getting back a few million — chump change in the scope of things — Carr’s plans don’t include going after the overcharging of customers via fake fees, which he could have initiated since being general counsel at the FCC in 2017.
The Irregulators have filed multiple times with the FCC, FTC and other regulators that there are made up fees “junk fees” that are being added to the bill that raise rates.
Real Prices Are Not Going Down; they are what a customer pays.
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Chairman Carr claims that ‘real’ prices have gone down, when in fact, the FCC analysis has been the same since the 1990’s when we showed that the government numbers — including the BLS or CPI inflation calculations never use actual bills or do surveys of bills, and in some cases, leave out some of the taxes, or fees or surcharges.
Moreover, the Irregulators have LTC Consulting and Teletruth as part of the team, who has provided audits of telecommunications expenses for the last 3 decades.
In March 2025, we detailed multiple rate increases and additional fees as well as an explanation of the problems with these government supplied info on communications prices.
Idiocracy: FCC and Chairman Carr Claim Prices have been Going Down for the Last Decade.
Why is this a junk fee?
As we noted, the Broadcast TV added junk fee on a Spectrum Brooklyn NY basic triple play is now $28 added to the bill per month. Worse, this charge is considered revenue, so it is also quadruple taxed, including made up fees applied because state, federal, etc.
Made-up, Broadcast-Sports Fees Up 820%; Overcharging $250+ a Year — then Quintuple-Taxed, Fee’d and Surcharged.
During the time that Brendan Carr started as General Counsel of the FCC in 2017 to the current Chairmanship position, Broadcast Fees for Spectrum went from $5.50 to a whopping $28.00 a month, not counting quadruple taxes. — a 410% increase.
- A 410% increase is adding to a ridiculous amount of corporate profit.
- This fee is not included in the advertised price or even quoted by the companies when they advertise the service.
- This fee is not government mandated.
- There have been no audits or investigations that we know of by the FCC or any other oversight from regulators.
- This is only one of many junk fees on communications bills that the FCC hasn’t removed or even investigated.
- Overseas prices, such as Free Telecom in France, do not have a Christmas tree of other expenses, like this egregious charge.
Some of our work over the last few years:
- IRREGULATORS Complaint to the FTC: Remove All Cost Recovery Junk Fees on 350 Million AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile Wireless Connections, $15 Billion Annually-
- Major Rate Increases on Small Business Wired Services — Up 133% in New Jersey.
- First, regardless of the hype, there’s plenty of small businesses that still rely on basic wired services. And due to the manipulation of…
- Memo to the FCC: “Real Prices” — Keep Going Up.
- The FCC’s reliance on garbage data and analysis has harmed America and helped to create the Digital Divide.
- FCC Claims Prices for Broadband and Wireless Went Down.
- This is PART 2;
