Local phone companies largely determined that there was more money in long distance for them and decided to leave cable alone. And along with other large cable companies they control more than 60 cable channels. Some of these external costs include increased prices the operator pays for programming, even though the programmers are in large measure the cable companies themselves. The FCC and Congress are currently studying why the FCC's cable rate rules have failed to constrain rates, what to do about it, how to encourage cable TV competitors, and whether they can compel cable operators to offer consumers more a la carte programming choices. The future of cable television is still undecided . . . for now.
Major decisions regarding competitition, market power and delivery are already underway.
And emerging technologies and continuing deregulation will continue to transform the cable market. Cable consumers must act now to ensure that the future of cable is not dependent upon the demise of fair competition and quality service.