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- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!news.acns.nwu.edu!telecom-request
- Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 00:54:15 -0700
- From: rlm@ms_aspen.hac.com (Robert L. McMillin)
- Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
- Subject: U.S. Cable Television Re-Regulation
- Message-ID: <telecom12.713.1@eecs.nwu.edu>
- Organization: TELECOM Digest
- Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
- Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
- X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
- X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
- X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 713, Message 1 of 16
- Lines: 102
-
- Nigel Allen <Nigel.Allen@lambada.oit.unc.edu> forwarded a press
- release from the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer
- Federation of America that supports the Cable TV Consumer Competition
- And Protection Act of 1992. Granted, cable is a mess: in fact, since
- I have moved, I haven't bothered to get cable, preferring the
- disinformation I get from the {Los Angeles Times}, National Public
- Radio, or Westinghouse Broadcast Group. My experience with cable TV
- operators (Paragon Cable, specifically) would seem to imply that the
- words "customer service" don't exist in their dictionaries: I have
- lost service so many times that I stopped counting. And forget about
- contacting them to fix anything within a day. Repair technicians come
- out within a week, if that. Apathetic phone representatives take it
- as a given that no matter how long you are kept on hold (typically 10
- minutes or more), you can't do anything about it anyway. Shut up and
- like your monopoly.
-
- But that doesn't mean that Congressional re-regulation will solve
- these problems. In fact, I expect them to worsen as a result of this
- bill.
-
- The first warning bells go off with the use of inflammatory prose:
-
- > Cable's Distortion Campaign:
-
- Now, I grant you that I have heard some wild tales from the cable
- operators as a result of this bill making the rounds in Congress. But
- nothing in this proposed legislation makes me feel any easier about
- dealing with the people running the cable companies. To wit:
-
- > Rate Regulation
-
- > -- The FCC and franchising authorities are authorized to ensure
- > that rates for basic service are "reasonable" where cable systems do
- > not face effective competition.
-
- > -- The bill allows citizens, local government and other public
- > organizations to file petitions to the FCC challenging rates for all
- > other tiers of service.
-
- Can you say, "GTE"? If anybody ever needed an example of how badly a
- regulated utility can be run and still operate in the purported
- "public interest", this has got to take the prize. Anybody
- unfortunate enough to have GTE California knows what I mean: surly
- technicians, overpriced service (substantially higher than Pac*Bell),
- and a business office that operates only during the day -- when I am
- at work. Rate regulation would protect cable operators' profits at
- the expense of its customers.
-
- > Equipment Prices
-
- > -- Allows the FCC to ensure that prices for installation, remote
- > control, converter boxes and other equipment used to provide basic
- > service shall be "reasonable."
-
- Wanna bet the cable business finds some foxes to guard the "reason-
- able" chicken house?
-
- > Customer Service
-
- > -- The bill requires the FCC to establish enforceable customer
- > service standards addressing concerns such as outages and service
- > calls, system office hours and telephone availability, and information
- > on billing and refunds.
-
- What could "enforceable customer service standards" mean? Who knows!
- At this point, any improvement in service after passage of this bill
- would allow its sponsors to crow about how much they've done to help
- the situation, no matter how tiny a fix. So they've cut your wait on
- hold from fifteen minutes to ten. Whoopee.
-
- > Encouragement of Multiple, Competitive Cable Franchises
-
- > -- Franchising authorities may not award exclusive cable
- > franchises, and may not unreasonably refuse to award additional
- > competitive franchises.
-
- Why do I smell a rat? Refer, if you will, to the section in which we
- are told that regulators will ensure "reasonable" prices where no
- effective competition exists. The chief reason we now have monopolies
- is because there is big money to be had from the cable business for
- reelection chests. Reason is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.
- The city councilmen et al. responsible for the present monopolies will
- no doubt find some very good and reasonable excuses to continue the
- allotment of exclusive operating contracts. In large cities like Los
- Angeles which have several large cable contractors, eliminating
- regional monopolies would be even harder: after all, the city's
- satraps may say, each operator competes to keep its share of the cable
- business. In practice, though the franchisees may be pitted against
- one another for an occaisional show, real competition based on price
- and quality of service doesn't happen. People still live in a Century
- Cable neighborhood or a Paragon Cable neighborhood.
-
- The only real, effective way to make the present arrogance from cable
- operators go away is competition. If the experience with local dial
- tone is any guide, regulation won't cut it.
-
-
- Robert L. McMillin | Voice: (310) 568-3555
- Hughes Aircraft/Hughes Training, Inc. | Fax: (310) 568-3574
- Los Angeles, CA | Internet: rlm@indigo2.hac.com
-
-