Don't PEG Consumers to Government Discrimination

Don't PEG Consumers to Government Discrimination

DALLAS, April 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer preferences should guide video providers' decisions for PEG channel placement, not the federal government, writes the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) today in comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC should not replace the demands of consumers with government-created discrimination by stripping video providers of the reasonable flexibility to place "PEG channels," or public, educational and governmental access channels, in accessible and appropriate places within the program menu.

"Video providers need to be able to manage their bandwidth efficiently, and forcing them to reserve a broad swath of analog space for channels largely ignored by consumers is the kind of economic and technological inefficiency that almost only results from government mandate," said IPI president Tom Giovanetti.

These channels came into existence as localities extorted the bandwidth from video providers as a cost for being able to provide video service to the local area, not because of any consumer demand. Today, the only reason to give PEG channels premium placement is the political and lobbying clout of local and community officials.

"Government policy should not favor PEG channel content over other types of content favored by consumers, and there is no legal, economic, or market reason to give PEG channels premium placement on the video menu system of video providers," said Giovanetti.

IPI Center for Technology Freedom director Bartlett Cleland says if consumers want to use the PEG channels, they will do so regardless of the channel on which the content is displayed.

"Video content providers should not be forced to comply with discriminatory rules, especially to the detriment of their customers who are ultimately the people paying for all of the content," said Cleland.

Digital convergence is here, and most or all video offerings will come to resemble video-on-demand, which may be much more appropriate for PEG content than what is currently available. Content providers must be free to experiment with new services, but fearing this change and instituting regulatory barriers ultimately harms consumers and freezes innovation.

Ultimately, regulatory policy should be both technologically and entity neutral, not regulating one technology or competitor in a different way than the rest of the market.

"Regulators and legislators must acknowledge that neither legislation nor regulation can possibly keep up with innovation," said Cleland.

The Institute for Policy Innovation is an independent, nonprofit public policy organization based in Dallas, Texas. Experts are available for interview by contacting Erin Humiston at (972) 874-5139, or erin@ipi.org.

Source: Institute for Policy Innovation

CONTACT: Erin Humiston of the Institute for Policy Innovation,
+1-972-874-5139, erin@ipi.org

Web Site: http://www.ipi.org/

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