Cable competition makes sense

James K. Glassman, editor in chief of The American magazine wrote an interesting piece this week on what he called the "most penicious monopoly in America": the cable television market. He makes a great point that in this year of partisanship and legislative gridlock, the states (and even the U.S. House of Represenentatives) that have passed cable competition legislation did so with wide margins of agreement. Yet the U.S. Senate can't even get a floor vote on a federal bill that promises to deliver billions in savings for consumers as well as billions in economic investment. It makes you just scratch your head. You can read the article at: http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.24951/pub_detail.asp

Comments

[Jeff Hayes]

MoveOn.org??? They're the ones behind all this NET NEUTRALITY BS that has the Cable Choice bill in NEUTRAL in the Senate???

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!!! I thought those folks were supposed to be "out for the little guy." I mean, isn't that a Democrat organization? (I'm independent, although I've been voting for more Democrats than Republicans since G.W. Bush came along!)

I've also TWICE been asked by this organization to send the stock email to my senators and TWICE I did it, and BOTH TIMES I personalized it, as my cable rate (CHARTER) is OUTRAGEOUS, and the only way I can keep it down is to keep ADDING things (like I just switched to their PHONE service to get another 1-year bargain on the TV and cable modem, but a year from now, if nothing changes, I don't know WHAT I'm going to do!

HOWEVER, according to Mr. Glassman's article, legislation passed unanimously here in SC. Did our Governor fail to sign it? I don't remember it. Can Consumers for Cable Choice fill me in on THIS?

Jeff Hayes,
Spartanburg, SC

[C4CC]

Jeff,

Grrr! Indeed. Thank you, thank you for taking action to support cable choide, and YES! SC did enact a cable franchise law. I'm pasting in a url for you to see the bill, which was passed by your legislature this year and signed into law by the governor on May 23. The reason we're still asking for action is because your state is one of only 8 that have enacted pro-competition cable laws. We're greedy. We want EVERY American to have the same benefits that you and your neighbors will have once competition starts flowing in South Carolina. So congratulations on your state level passage. And thanks for helping encourage your federal lawmakers even though your state law makers have taken action for you.

The South Carolina law can be found at
http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess116_2005-2006/bills/4428.htm

[ObiJan]

In the "Cable Competition news" category:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-03-fiber-cover_x.htm

Can we hear C4Cc's comments on this?