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Phone-Cable Fight Spills Over Into Print Ads
Phone companies want an easier path to providing cable TV (phone company cable in Keller, Tex., is shown here). Cable prices have risen sharply.
(By Donna Mcwilliam -- Associated Press)
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The battle over statistics has heated up because Congress is taking a serious look at passing video franchising legislation, which could relieve telephone companies from having to get clearance from thousands of local governments around the country to install TV service. Cable companies had to undergo such a process and say phone companies should do the same.
"As the discussion gets louder and louder on Capitol Hill . . . we felt that this was the opportune time to bring our group together," said Susan Molinari, the former congresswoman who co-chairs Broadband Everywhere, a cable-industry-supported group that was launched this week to make cable's case.
The group, which says its sole financial supporter so far is the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, accused the phone companies of seeking "sweetheart deals and special rules" for themselves.
"The Bell companies are once again using false and misleading advertising to lobby for special favors that benefit only them," NCTA spokesman Robert Stoddard said in a statement issued earlier this week.
Peter Arnold, the spokesman for TV4us, said his group stood by its statistics.
"We are very comfortable with the accuracy of what we said," Arnold said, though he noted that the group had made a "typographical error" in the citation to the underlying FCC study. "We are quite convinced the facts support our statements."
AT&T spokeswoman Claudia Jones also said her company was happy to be working with TV4us, which lists 30 members on its Web site, including the National Association of Manufacturers.
"Cable cannot dispute the fact that they've incessantly raised rates," Jones said. "Cable rates continue to rise because they lack meaningful competition."
