Upton: Franchise Bill Could Save $27 Billion

[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
A controversial House proposal to speed phone-company entry into local cable markets could save consumers up to $27 billion on their annual household communications expenditures, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said Tuesday. “I am convinced that if we were able to get a bill … it would reduce prices in the neighborhood of $200-$250 per household across the country for the year for all of the different services combined,” Rep Upton said. rep Upton’s cost projections would produce national consumer savings of $21.2 billion-$26.5 billion annually if based on 106 million occupied households in the 2000 U.S. Census.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6315992.html?display=Breaking+News
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See also --
* Rep Solis Weighs in on Video Franchising Reform Debate
[SOURCE: tvover.net]
In a letter to House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Ranking Member John D. Dingell (D-MI), Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis (D-CA) urged them to include enforceable provisions in the Committee's video franchising reform bill to prohibit the deployment of broadband in a discriminatory manner. "A strong non-discrimination provision," she writes, "will help forge a bipartisan consensus in ushering in new competition that will benefit consumers, raise our national productivity, and ensure the kind of robust broadband deployment that is clearly in the national interest."
http://www.tvover.net/Solis+Weighs+In+On+Video+Franchising+Reform+Debate...