Letters
By Staff -- Multichannel News, 10/20/2002 8:00:00 PM
Telemedicine Hurt by DBS Merger Death
To the Editor:
Our organization is greatly concerned about the FCC's [Federal Communications Commission] reported rejection of the EchoStar/DirecTV satellite merger ("FCC Rejects EchoStar-Hughes Merger").
We hope the FCC will work diligently to achieve the merger's important benefits, while addressing any legitimate concerns it may have about competitiveness.
We support the merger because we believe in the value of telemedicine. For low-income patients in rural areas and their physicians, telemedicine makes it practical to consult regularly with specialists in teaching hospitals hundreds of miles away. It is our view that the benefits that the merger offers in terms of expanded high-speed Internet connections makes it a crucial transaction.
The outright rejection of the merger without compromise seems to be an extreme response to competitive concerns, with such a significant potential for telemedicine expansion online.
David Charles, M.D. Chairman National Alliance of Medical Researchers and Teaching Physicians, Nashville, TN
Editors Note: Dr. Charles directs The Movement Disorders Clinic at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he is an attending physician and leads the Department of Neurology's Residency Training Program. He was a Harvard Macy Scholar, Fulbright Senior Scholar to France, and a Health Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate.
Monopoly Doesn't Equal Competition
The following is a response written by Matthew Polka, president of the American Cable Association, to two Letters to the Editor that appeared in the Oct. 14 issue of Multichannel News.
To the Editor:
Former U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop ("DBS Merger Breakup Bad for Middle America") issued a challenge to propose alternatives for high-speed Internet access should the EchoStar/DirecTV merger fail. Small, independent cable businesses accept.
Mr. Wallop, can consumers not now receive Internet access from DirecTV's DirectWay service or from the StarBand service available through EchoStar's Web site? How does eliminating choice through a merged monopoly increase availability?
The Carmel Group, in its 2002 DBS North America Sourcebook, projects that the average cost of satellite broadband will drop significantly through 2008, even without the merger of EchoStar and DirecTV. Can limiting choice produce the same cost savings?
To suggest that the merger of the direct-broadcast satellite "duopoly" into a single monolith is being done for benevolent reasons is not credible. Both Mr. Wallop and Mr. Thomas Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste ("DBS Merger Would Bring High-Speed Data to All") would have the reader believe that there are no alternatives for rural customers to access broadband Internet without this merger and that competition cannot exist without the merger.
However, monopolies eliminate competition. That's why the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] decided correctly to block the EchoStar/DirecTV merger.
The American Cable Association, which represents nearly 1,000 small, independent cable businesses that provide service to nearly eight million customers in small towns and rural America, supports the FCC's unanimous decision to do the right thing for rural areas.
The issues go well beyond the broadband issues. While the ACA and our members welcome competition, we welcome it on a level playing field. DBS already enjoys a favorable regulatory climate over cable and greater leverage in its operating costs. And now they need a monopoly to compete?
The cable industry is clearly committed to expanding its broadband and interactive offerings. In the meantime, residents of Sheridan, Wyo., are clearly not out of options.
The most absurd thing in this DBS merger process has been EchoStar's and DirecTV's statements saying they need help, as a monopoly with nearly 20 million subscribers, to compete against smaller, rural cable business who may have far less than a thousand customers on a single cable system. The FCC said in its decision that monopolies harm competition. In the case of EchoStar and DirecTV, there are no concessions that can change this fact.
Matthew Polka, President, American Cable Association
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