Consumers Taking an $8.2 Billion Licking as Clock Keeps Ticking and Lawmakers Wait to Enact Cable Competition Legislation

Consumers Taking an $8.2 Billion Licking as Clock Keeps Ticking and Lawmakers Wait to Enact Cable Competition Legislation

INDIANAPOLIS, April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- At the stunning rate of $260 every second, American consumers are seeing hard-earned dollars pour out of their pockets and into the silk purses of cable TV monopolies.

Without action this year from the lawmakers currently debating the cable competition issue in Statehouses, City Halls and on Capitol Hill, consumers will pay $8.2 billion instead of saving that amount.

"Consumers are truly taking a licking as this cable competition debate keeps ticking," said Robert K. Johnson, president of Consumers for Cable Choice (C4CC). "We're keeping track of the daily savings that are being lost so no one loses sight of the enormous benefit competition offers consumers."

The C4CC consumers' savings clock is ticking away at http://www.consumers4choice.org/ .

"As Americans rush to file their federal tax returns, they are more aware than ever of how much money is leaving their wallets -- and how little control they have over that exodus," Johnson continued. "Competition will give consumers more control over their cash flow, while also spurring providers into giving better service and program options."

Johnson applauded governors and legislators in Texas, Virginia, Indiana and Kansas for enacting legislation to encourage competition in their state cable markets and credited the more than one million members gathered under the C4CC alliance with helping to convince those lawmakers to act. "We're seeing some progress in communities across the country, but every American deserves the benefits of competition and our clock will keep ticking until they have it."

Nine states are debating the cable competition issue. Two others are expected to take the issue up next year. Congress and dozens of city councils across the country are also considering legislation designed to reduce consumer costs, increase customer service and enhance programming. Federal studies have shown that cable prices are about 15 percent lower in the 4 percent of the country where cable competition exists, compared to the majority of the country where monopoly cable rules.

"People are fed up," Johnson said. "Even with the progress we've seen, too many Americans don't yet have a competitive cable choice. It's high time they did."

The countdown to $8.2 billion is based on a study released earlier this year by the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies. The study is available at http://www.phoenix-center.org/pbulletin.html .

About Consumers for Cable Choice, Inc.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., C4CC is a national alliance of consumer advocacy groups, private citizens and others who are committed to promoting maximum choice for consumers in cable, video and broadband services. C4CC uses a combination of education and grassroots advocacy to impact change, which will result in a deregulated and pro-consumer market that stimulates fair price, more choices and better service options in the cable television industry. President Johnson has been advocating for policies that benefit residential and small business consumers for more than 20 years. To learn more, visit http://www.consumers4choice.org/ .

Source: Consumers for Cable Choice, Inc.

CONTACT: Cheryl Reed, +1-317-205-9690, cherylreed@synergy-mg.com , for
C4CC

Web site: http://www.phoenix-center.org/pbulletin.html
http://www.consumers4choice.org/

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