In response to a highly critical report issued by a coalition of the nation’s top consumer groups, the cable television industry has answered back.
“The wild and unfounded claims of these Washington-based advocacy groups are recycled arguments that fell out of favor a decade ago,” said Rob Stoddard, senior vice president of communications and public affairs of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). “The regulatory environment envisioned by Congress in 1996 and maintained by the FCC has fostered the most robust telecommunications marketplace in the world. It’s providing a better deal for consumers, who are getting far more for their dollar. How odd that so-called consumer groups would prefer to take all that away.
“The broadband renaissance, and the marketplace competition it has spawned, has brought unprecedented choice and value to tens of millions of Americans,” Stoddard added. “Cable’s investment of more than $75 billion in upgrades and rebuilds has facilitated the transmission of more than 300 nationally-delivered video networks and popular consumer services such as high-speed Internet access, video on demand, high-definition television, and competitive local telephone service. If these self-appointed consumer representatives had their way, the majority of this investment and innovation would have been stifled from the start.”
For more information visit www.ncta.com.