ACA Chairman Friedman Seeks End To Big Media Price Discrimination

American Cable Association Chairman Steve Friedman said that under his leadership, the trade group is firmly committed to preventing big media companies from using their market power to extract discriminatory content fees from the customers of small, independent cable providers.

"We have never said our members are not willing to pay a negotiated fair price in a fair marketplace, but we have always objected to our members' paying an unfair, discriminatory, non-cost-justified price to broadcasters, cable programmers or others, just because we're smaller," Friedman said. "It's time for this discrimination to stop." If ACA is successful in communicating its goals to the public and government officials, Friedman added, consumers would be charged fairer prices and operators would have more capital to invest in broadband network upgrades that will improve Internet download speeds in rural markets where cost considerations run high as factors in making deployment decisions.