John McCain: Americans 'Are Being Ripped Off' By Cable Companies

[ashling]

He lamented the rising price of basic cable and the fact that the average viewer only watches 18 channels, despite paying for hundreds of them — which he described as a "fundamental unfairness" supported by laws that favor cable companies and television programmers. He acknowledged that the legislation faces "an uphill battle," but warned that companies only have two choices: "meet consumers' demands or become obsolete."

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John, John, John ... don't forget the free market

[olddots]

1. Okay he got one answer right out of thousands .

[irisblue]

2. sherlock mccain discovers water is wet as well

[LostOne4Ever]

3. INCONCEIVABLE

People still watch Cable?

[Frank Cannon]

4. I haven't had cable in 20 years.

And I've never, ever missed it.

And now with all the streaming services available, it's even more irrelevant than ever.

[hlthe2b]

5. With all deference to those who love sports, or shopping channels...

I don't... And I find it annoying that every customer is subsidizing very expensive sports programming Even if rates didn't go down, I'd surely like some of my fees to go to higher quality original programming, rather than the 100 channels of ESPN or other sports (and reality crap).

And, on edit, I hadn't had cable in 4 years until it became packaged with my internet service and to sever would mean a higher internet rate.

I can honestly say, I watch more on the order of no more than ten channels (or rather flip through them from time to time)

[CBGLuthier]

6. 3 years without cable and the only channel I really miss is TCM

Especially since so many old movies are not given decent treatment on either blu-ray or streaming.