Cable Choice

Cable Choice Momentum Catching

The consumer message of more choices, better service and lower prices is catching. The Christian-Science Monitor has a an op-ed urging policymakers to “Give cable some healthy rivals.” The conclusion the Monitor draws is a simple one:

The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which regulates TV and the Internet, needs a significant overhaul. Congress is unlikely to undertake such a battle royal in this election year. But reforming video franchising - and heating up competition between cable companies and telcos - is something it should tackle now.

C4CC is keeping the momentum up. Write your local paper and tell them you want a “healthy rival” to your cable company too.

Comcast Forced to Refund $2.6 Million to Consumers

Consumers in about 100 municipalities will get a little something back from Comcast (now that’s comcastic!) because guess what – Comcast overcharged consumers! There’s a lively discussion over at BroadbandReports on this topic that is good reading to get the true sense of consumers fed up of not having any choices for cable providers.

Momentum for Franchise Reform in Congress

If the recent activity and hearing on Capitol Hill is any indication, I think Congress is finally getting the message that consumers want real video choice. A bipartisan group of six Senators (Smith-OR, DeMint-SC, Ensign-NV, McCain-AZ, Rockefeller-WV, Kerry-MA) endorsed a strikingly sensible set of video competition principles to streamline the video franchise process. Yesterday, the Senate Commerce committee (Techliberation has a good summary, Red Herring covers it too) held a hearing with corporate executives and consumer advocates basically saying the same thing – consumers deserve cable choices and franchise reform has to happen to make video choice a reality.

Earlier this week, Consumers for Cable Choice and dozens of other consumer focused organizations filed comments at the Federal Communcations Commission supporting franchise reform. The FCC also held a rare field hearing in Keller, TX where Verizon is going head-to-head with the local cable company with their FiOS video product

We can’t sit back and wait though. The anti-competition types are poised to halt the current momentum to protect their business interests at the expense of the consumer interest. Take action and remind your member of Congress how important video choice is to you.

Consumers Are Leading, but Congress Needs to Act

Online Media Daily has a story today with research showing that consumers want more choices in the way they can view video content. Viewers are no longer tethered to their living rooms to watch TV – technology has allowed quality video to stream to computers and most recently, to handheld devices like iPods and cellphones. All these new ways to view content are fine and dandy, but without high capacity networks to deliver all this content to the home, these gadgets will just gather dust and land in the “wasn’t that a cool idea’ pile. Congress needs to listen to consumers, and set a national policy so these networks that will deliver true broadband can be built without further delay.

Subscribers Down, Prices Up: You Do the Math

Last Friday the FCC released its Annual Report to Congress on Video Competition (via Technology360) and it revealed a few interesting facts. Cable subscribership decreased over last year’s number and we’ve all seen the price increases that consumers are faced with (this past year the rate hikes were 3-7% range – well above inflation). Match that with the 10% increase in revenues from cable companies saw over the last year (AP, via FreePress) and you can see why consumers are clamoring for real choices for cable. Price increases, profit increases, service quality decreases. In most other markets, the consumer could just walk away and find a new provider. Congress needs to act on franchise reform so next years FCC report shows the impact competition can bring to consumers.

Cheap Shots from the Cheap Seats

Its nice to see the good people of Cox going after national respected groups like American Corn Growers and the National Farmers Union – heck, raise their cable rates AND take a cheap shot at them on their “inside guide to communications.”  The reason why organizations of all kinds (minority, consumer, disability, rural, women and small business) have joined Consumers for Cable Choice is because they want choices.  Cox seems to think consumers are perfectly happy having one choice for video, and are already numbed to annual price increases that far outstrip the cost of living.  Maybe Cox should spend less time blogging and more time listening to consumers. Cox probably doesn’t want to hear what they have to say.