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Enlarge / FCC Chairman Ajit Pai speaking at a press conference on October 1, 2018, in Washington DC. (credit: Getty Images | Mark Wilson )
Ajit Pai is continuing his multi-year battle against local broadband regulation with a plan that would stop cities and towns from using their authority over cable TV networks to regulate Internet access.
Chairman Pai’s proposal, scheduled for a vote at the Federal Communications Commission’s August 1 meeting, would also limit the fees that municipalities can charge cable companies. Cable industry lobbyists have urged the FCC to stop cities and towns from assessing fees on the revenue cable companies make from broadband.
If approved, Pai’s proposal would “Prohibit LFAs [local franchising authorities] from using their video franchising authority to regulate most non-cable services, including broadband Internet service, offered over cable systems by incumbent cable operators.” Pai’s proposal complains that “some states and localities are purporting to assert authority” to collect fees and impose requirements that aren’t explicitly allowed by Title VI, the cable-regulation section that Congress added to communications law with the Cable Act of 1984.
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There’s just something about terrible customer service, high prices, and sketchy quality product that consumers oddly don’t like. American consumers’ dislike of traditional cable TV providers was once again made clear this week in a study by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which, as its name implies, tracks US consumer approval of companies on a 100 point scale. As has long been the case, the full report shows most traditional cable TV, satellite, or IPTV providers languishing somewhere in the mid 60s — scores that are bested by a long line of industries and government agencies (including the IRS).
Not too surprisingly, the report shows that American consumers far prefer streaming video alternatives, which provide them with lower costs and greater package flexibility. According to the ACSI, streaming services scored significantly higher than traditional TV, phone, broadband, video on demand, and wireless providers:
“Video streaming services are the top performers for customer satisfaction among the five telecom industries. Competition is likely to spur further improvement, with both Disney and Apple expected to release inexpensive streaming services later this year. Netflix gains 1% to secure first place at 79—and number one across all five telecom categories—after sharing the lead with Sony’s PlayStation Vue and Amazon Twitch last year. As its membership growth continues at a record pace, ACSI data show Netflix ranks at the top for original content among all streaming services.”
The report’s infographic makes the point clearer still:
Of course that’s a major reason for the slow, steady exodus of cord cutters from traditional TV to streaming services or over the air antennas, the rate of which continues to accelerate. Streaming companies are actually trying to compete on things like price, which, with a few exceptions, still isn’t something the traditional cable and broadcast industry is particularly interested in. Many sector executives spent the last decade pretending that this shift toward streaming was some kind of temporary fluke that would just magically dissipate.
As a result two sectors — Pay-TV and broadband — both had average satisfaction scores in the mid-sixties, the last place of all the industries the ACSI tracks. When you consider that includes the airline, banking, and insurance industries, that’s no small feat.
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Review: Bezalel’s Prelude wireless smartphone charger loses the cable Computerworld
When it comes to wireless charging, this is truly a portable charger that requires no cables – not even to recharge its own battery.
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