AT&T: Cable Price Hikes Will End
By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld -- Multichannel News, 3/26/2006 7:00:00 PM
AT&T Inc. said it expects cable operators “almost certainly” will not be able to raise prices once it enters the market with its infinite-channel television service.
That service, which relies on Internet-communication protocols and is scheduled to reach 18 million households over the next two years, “will change the game for consumers,'' chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre said Tuesday at the TelecomNext conference in Las Vegas.
“For one thing, it will offer a better video service than today's cable. More features, more functionality, more capability,'' Whitacre said. “For another, it will almost certainly result in lower prices by cable television. And that is an experience that few people have enjoyed.''
Since 2000, the average price of telephone service in this country has dropped 22%, Whitacre said. By contrast, he said cable rates increased 32%.
“That's about to change,'' he said.
And he appeared to have the backing of Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin on the premise.
Martin, speaking on the same stage about an hour later, specifically noted that rates for cable television have gone up since the enactment of the 1996 Telecommunications Act — while rates for local, long-distance and wireless phone services all have dropped.
As a result, the commission will try this year to address ways to reduce barriers to entry, with “some reasonable limitations” that could be put around what “local franchising authorities can require as new competitors'' try to enter new towns or cities across the country.
“Trying to make sure that competitive barriers are lowered and that new service providers can come in and provide a competitive alternative is critical and is one of the most important things that the commission can do,” he said. He specifically cited telephone companies who could get into the provision of multichannel video services “by the advent of new technologies like IPTV,'' the Internet Protocol-based type of television services that AT&T is implementing nationwide.
Whitacre had already called for franchise reform, calling current regulations a “relic of another era.”
“New entrants into the video market should not have to be burdened by rules for legacy providers, just as new entrants to the telecom market, like cable companies, were not,'' he said.
If AT&T received one new franchise agreement every business day, it would take the company more than six years to offer its U-Verse TV service to all its customers, he said.
“People want more choice and they want it now,'' he said.
No related content found.
Featured Company
-
Digital Rapids
Digital Rapids is the leading provider of professional hardware and software tools, technology and expertise for bringing video to wider audiences and new viewing platforms. Continuing to set new standards in quality, productivity and versatility, our solutions span the critical ..more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
