Thursday, Feb 10, 2005

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement today in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) annual report on cable rate increases released Friday, February 4, 2005:

“Despite industry claims of vigorous competition, the FCC reported last week that cable rates continue to outpace inflation at an annual rate of over 5%. It’s no wonder, then, that the previous day, the nation’s largest cable operator announced a 10.4% increase in earnings for the fourth quarter.

“Notably, where cable providers faced competition from another wired provider, the FCC found the average rate increase was only 3.6%. Competition matters. Therefore, I will continue to champion policies that promote competition to the incumbent cable operator from other technologies, including over builders, satellite providers, wireless carriers and telephone companies using Internet Protocol enabled services.

“Lastly, I applaud RCN and PrairieWave Communications for volunteering to develop and implement a market test to give consumers more choice. These carriers want to allow consumers to purchase additional options of bundles or individual channels thereby providing consumers with more control over their bills, particularly those consumers who watch only a few channels, and over the content they welcome into their homes. A market test is the only true way to understand both the merits and shortcomings of alternate channel packaging. I urge companies in the content industry to work with these providers to allow a valid market test to proceed so that policymakers can debate the merits of channel choice for the first time with concrete data in hand.

mccain.senate.gov