All codesUtilities & TelecomLow Risk

4899Cable, Satellite, & Pay Television

Cable, satellite TV, and pay-per-view services. Transitioning to include streaming service billing for cable-affiliated platforms.

Networks:VisaMastercardAmexDiscover

Merchants Using MCC 4899

Well-known businesses assigned this code

Comcast/XfinityDirecTVDish NetworkSpectrum

Risk Assessment

Standard processing rates. Most payment processors accept this MCC with minimal additional requirements.

Common Use Cases

  • Cable TV subscriptions
  • Satellite TV
  • Pay-per-view

Category Details

Category
Utilities & Telecom
MCC Range
4800–4999
Description
Electric, gas, water, telephone, and cable services.

Credit Card Rewards

Bonus CategoryUtilities / Bills
Typical Earning1x–2x

Few cards offer bonus rewards on utility payments. Some flat-rate cards are the best option here.

Why MCC Codes Matter for Your Business

Your MCC code directly affects how card networks and processors treat your transactions.

Approval Rate Impact

Processors have different acceptance rates per MCC. A misclassified code can silently tank your approval rate by 5-15%, costing revenue on every declined transaction.

Interchange Fees

The interchange fee you pay on every transaction is directly tied to your MCC code. Some categories pay 0.5% less per transaction — at scale, that compounds into significant savings or hidden costs.

Chargeback Thresholds

Visa and Mastercard set different chargeback monitoring thresholds per MCC category. High-risk MCCs face stricter limits — exceeding them triggers fines, reserve requirements, or account termination.

Wrong MCC = Serious Risk

An incorrect MCC assignment means you could be paying inflated fees, hitting the wrong chargeback program, or worse — facing account termination for "MCC mismatch" during a processor audit.

Tagada Optimizes Routing by MCC Code

Tagada's payment orchestration engine analyzes your MCC code to route each transaction to the processor with the highest approval rate and lowest fees for that specific merchant category. For MCC 4899, this means your cable, satellite, & pay television transactions are automatically sent through the optimal path in your processor stack.

Related Payment Terms

Frequently Asked Questions

What is MCC 4899?

MCC 4899 covers cable, satellite, and pay television services.

Do streaming services use MCC 4899?

Cable-affiliated streaming services may use 4899. Pure streaming platforms like Netflix often use MCC 5815 (digital goods).

Is MCC 4899 high risk?

No, cable and satellite TV is a low-risk MCC code with predictable recurring billing.

Tagada Platform

Optimize MCC 4899 payments with Tagada

Tagada's intelligent routing engine optimizes MCC 4899 transactions for the best approval rate, lowest fees, and fastest settlement across your processor stack.