Cable Companies' $46+ Billion Robbery -- Subscribers Have Been Ripped off for $5 a Month Since 2000

[marmar]

from AlterNet:



When cable television subscribers open their monthly bills they will not see a charge for the “Social Contract.” Since the mid-1990s, it appears that every cable subscriber has shelled out $1 per month increasing to $5 a month by 2000 to subsidize cable companies’ system upgrades. There has been no accounting for the total monies raised through this subsidy nor a thorough assessment of whether the cable operators fulfilled the system upgrades (including wiring and services to public institutions) the subsidy is suppose to underwrite.

We estimate that the total Social Contract or “social con” ripoff has cost American cable subscribers $46 billion. But the true costs of the social con could be much higher, as the cable companies may have “double billed” on their construction upgrades. These new construction payments underwrote cable operators implementing multiple revenue streams and a monopoly on their wires. This helped cable companies to now offer broadband, Internet, telephone and other services.

As of this writing, the Social Contract is a black hole, with no audit trails, no removal of a charge that seems to have ended up a perpetual cash machine. We call upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Congress and state Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) to provide a thorough, complete and transparent assessment of the Social Contract.

On September 24, 1997, the FCC’s then-chairman Reed Hundt testified before Congress on the Social Contract. As he reported, “The Commission has found social contracts to be a useful tool for providing for the upgrade of cable facilities allowing operators to expand service offerings.” And added, “the Commission's social contracts have allowed recovery for upgrades only through adjustments to rates charged for cable programming services tiers, the tiers that are within the Commission's exclusive jurisdiction.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/media/148785/cable_companies%27_%2446%2B_billion_robbery_--_subscribers_have_been_ripped_off_for_%245_a_month_since_2000/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Telephone companies do that too.

[AnArmyVeteran]

2. Landline phone companies charge 18 cents per month for TOUCHTONE!

Phone companies are charging everyone for touchtone service. The fee started when rotary phones began switching over to touchtone. Do the math, 40 years charging 18 cents per month to every landline in America. The amount is even bigger than your example.

When I finally realized I was charged for touchtone I called and complained and had 20 years of those charges refunded to me. The company wouldn't have been so easy to appease me if they were doing something legitimate. I urge anyone who still uses landlines to complain and demand refunds for the money they have been silently paying.