The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is holding a markup on the streamlined video franchise bill beginning tonight and going through tomorrow. The subcommittee should remain focused on passing a bill to remove the barriers that are keeping consumers from enjoying competition for cable and Internet service. The subcommittee will be considering many amendments to the fairly clean bill but they should ignore those amendments that don’t directly address the lack of competition in the cable marketplace. The longer consumers wait for competition, the longer they pay rising cable bills.
In another development, the House Judiciary committee is considering taking up net neutrality aspects of the video franchise bill which would grind progress on video choice to a halt (via JoHo, National Journal). Congress must move to pass franchise reform now so consumers can start saving. Side issues only delay the benefits of competition.
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