[opendtv] Re: News: Independent Networks, ACA Speak Out Against Program Tying

  • From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 18:53:54 -0400

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

>> As long as the public considers its cable connection
>> to be as crucial to their very survival as some people
>> claim on here, the cable companies have all the
>> leverage they need to bundle, and to raise their fees,
>> as much as the market will bear. I don't understand
>> this constant whining. This is the way the economy
>> works.
>
> NO. This is the way government supported oligopolies
> work. In a free market economy there would be
> competition.

NO. That's the part you continue to miss.

For cable companies, certainly initially, there could be no more competition 
than there is for your water and sewage. How many cases did you know of, where 
multiple cable companies served any given home of a neighborhood?

So as long as people create the notion that  this cable connection is critical, 
the cable companies can raise prices as much as they please. Power and 
water/sewage utilities could do exactly the same thing, were it not for 
regulation.

So, again, either you accept this govt role, or you stop complaining about high 
prices.

The situation now, with Verizon and AT&T competing with cable, has not changed 
much. They all pretty much charge the same rates, for similar services, 
similarly bundling programs in tiers. There isn't that much competition. Maybe 
WiMAX will change matters, we'll see.

> I have never called for the FCC to take action against the
> cable companies.

Well, the FCC is the only govt agency out there suggesting that cable companies 
introduce more a la carte offerings. If this becomes law, it would be the FCC 
that accomplished your goal. Otherwise, why on earth should cable companies, on 
their own, do anything that increases their operating costs and reduces their 
profit margins?

>> Again, this sounds so much like obese SUV drivers
>> complaining about the price of gasoline.
>
> Not really.
>
> Nobody is forcing you to buy an SUV. You can drive an
> econo-box or ride a bike.

The increased demand created by behemoths, which behemoths have not had to meet 
the more stringent CAFE requirements that automobiles have had to meet, is in 
part why the supply of oil isn't meeting the demand, and why the price is going 
up. So, while there are many factors involved, including the increased demand 
from India and China, SUV and large pickup truck owners are very much 
responsible for EXACERBATING the situation here in the US. I don't have to 
remind you that until very recently, these obscentities were accounting for 
half the sales of personal transportation vehicles in the US. And that as a 
consequence, in spite of the fact that AUTOMOBILE fuel economy has increased 
dramatically since 1970, the average miles per gallon of privately owned 
vehicles has gone slightly DOWN in that period of time.

So, JUST LIKE those cable subscribers who consider cable to be indispensable, 
people who help create a problem cannot expect a lot of sympathy when they have 
to pay for the consequences of their unrepressed behavior.

Bert

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