Letter to John McCain on A La Carte Regulation of Cable
November 17, 2003
What’s Next for State PUCs?
October 31, 2003
General Accounting Office Reports on Cable TV Rates
Statement of Solveig Singleton
Contacts:
Ms. Solveig Singleton, 202.331.2274, ssingleton@cei.org
Mr. Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273, rmorrison@cei.org
General Accounting Office Reports on Cable TV Rates
Statement of Solveig Singleton
Senior Analyst
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The GAO report will disappoint those who hoped to see support for new cable regulations. The report draws attention to the possibility of increased costs to cable companies and consumers from requiring cable companies to offer channels “a la carte.” The biggest problem would be for the development of new channels. Everyone would want the Discovery Channel and ESPN, cable’s revenue leaders. But it’s doubtful that enough people would buy the Weather Channel, CNN, the Food Channel, and so on to support the costs and risks of development.
Highlights of GAO study: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d048high.pdf
Full GAO study: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d048.pdf
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