Bernie Sanders: Your cable bill is too damned high

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/bernie-sanders-your-cable-bill-is-too-damned-high/

Bernie Sanders: Your cable bill is too damned high
International Business Times
10 Jul 2015 at 14:42 ET

Attention, voters: Bernie Sanders is just like you, which is to say he’s tired of paying too much for cable. The independent Vermont senator and 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful joined three fellow senators Thursday in asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the “ridiculous prices” charged by pay-TV and broadband services.

In a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Sanders -- along with Democratic Sens. Al Franken of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts -- said American consumers are being burdened by ever-increasing monthly bills and a thicket of hidden fees. Citing lack of competition and increased industry consolidation, the senators say the cable and broadband landscape has devolved into a smattering of “de facto telecommunications monopolies throughout the United States.” As a result, they say, cable and Internet providers are able to stick consumers with higher prices and poor service with impunity.

The senators are asking the FCC to investigate how much Americans pay for cable and broadband services by state; how much they pay, on average, by provider; and how much city dwellers pay compared with consumers who live in rural areas.

“We need healthy competition to foster innovation and ensure fair prices for consumers,” the letter states. “At the very least, Americans should be able to understand the price of the product they are buying and what their neighbors are paying for the same service.”

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Bernie's letter to the FCC:

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/071015fccletter/?inline=file

[Babel_17]

1. Well, monopolies do some things well

They are excellent at hiring lobbyists and donating money to see the right people elected.
The pioneers who took risks and rolled out the cable deserved to make great profits. But it didn't earn them ownership of the consumer or a chokehold on any competition that dares to enter their market.

[daleanime]

2. +1

[daleanime]

3. K&R.....