Comments on: Cable industry head says FCC is 'broken'

The cable industry is gearing up to do battle, as the head of its trade group says the FCC's handling of cable-related issues is biased and hurtful to the industry.

[treet007]

Yes, but...

Although I normally would have agreed that the FCC is not on equal footing between the cable and telecom industries in terms of policies and treatment, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association is actually worst. I believe the NCTA is operating like a cartel, operating in a monopolistic fashion with very little interest in actual consumer requirements. Hopefully the FCC will carry through with their threats and not wimper like they did with the telecom industry...

[scannall--2008]

The cable industry is more of a cabal.

One of the first things that needs to go are the municipal
monopoly contracts that so many places have.

Basic cable in our area is up to $78.00 a month. 2 years ago it was
$24.00.

[thenet411]

What a whiner!

McSlarrow seriously needs some cheese to go with his whine. I cannot believe that he would hold a conference call to do nothing more than whine about how what comes down to the fact that the cable industry is not keeping up with the world and they will stop at nothing to hold on to their out-of-date business model.

To be sure, the telcos are just a whiney, but i don't remember a conference call held just to whine about something.

Majorly bad judgement in the part of the cable industry to do this. I'd say it is right up there with the fake press conference by FEMA during the fires. What a moron.

[jamie.p.walsh]

what crap

"The chairman's office continues to offer a tired and false analysis of price and value for cable video subscribers, based on surveys 10 years ago when consumers only paid for an average of 45 analog channels," he[McSlarrow] said. "A real analysis of cable prices shows that consumers are watching more and paying less for that viewing time."

You might be able to correlate this with the effect DVR services have had on consumers TV watching habits. You may argue that, because of their convenience, shows that were previously less convenient to watch, consumers now are more inclined to spend their evenings watching them versus whatever they used to spend their free time doing. However, DVRs have only been in existence for the last 5-6 years and usage, while on the incline would not have that great an impact on viewership.

There is evidence that cable rates have jumped over 100% over 10 years. Television service is all you can eat per month, so the only argument that can be made is if there's evidence that consumers watch over 100% more today than 10 years ago, which would make the price to usage ratio go down.

That is highly unlikely.

I don't see how they can say that a-la-cart pricing would make it more expensive for consumers. How can that be true? If I currently pay $100 for 250 channels, but I only want 120, how can I not pay less than $100? Believe me, the cable industry has found convenient ways to squeeze every penny out of the consumer, that they've been less than frugle when negotiating deals with TV networks. They'll need to be a little more conscious of the the decisions they're making.

They'll have to be, IPTV services are being rolled out and the consumer should benefit from the competition and not have new entrants hide behind the hands off approach the FCC has shown cable in the past that has left consumers victim to price gouging.

[jbcahill]

He is right!

He is right....the FCC is broken. They are supposed to act and protect the CONSUMERS best interest, but instead acts and supports big business and big $$$.