Price promises of backers of Wisconsin cable bill fall flat

[Commentary] When interests such as AT&T pushed for a bill in 2007 to open up more competition in the cable television market, the proposal's supporters promised consumers would "see cost savings almost immediately." Nearly two years after an intense lobbying effort helped push the controversial video competition bill through the Legislature, those lower cable prices haven't materialized. A recent study found prices for expanded basic cable increased nearly 28 percent from late 2006 to early 2009. Madison-area provider Charter Communications has said it will raise rates on its lower-tier cable-only customers by $3 in December. "It was a form of puffery and everyone knows it," Barry Orton, a UW-Madison telecommunications professor who formerly did consulting work for cities opposed to the law, said of the predictions of lower prices. "And those rates prove it."