Jeannine Kenney Quotations | Page 2

Network operators have always functioned as neutral transmitters, meaning they don't control who you call, when you call, et cetera. So until this point, consumers were led to believe that they would not monitor communication on their networks absent a warrant.

Today's action kick-starts the national effort to give consumers' wallets a break and allow them more control over their television programming choices and cable bills.

If you're a consumer who can afford to spend $200 or $250 a month on communications services, then maybe your total costs have come down. The reality is now that competition is all about the bundle of services, and each company has a vested interest in maximizing sales of bundled services within their own territory.

In 2004, the FCC issued a staff report based on erroneous assumptions that kept this costly bundling charade going. Today's FCC report shreds the foundation of this industry-sponsored deceit.

The consumer compensation program established in this program is unworkable, unfair and unacceptable to consumers. It provides only a fraction of the funds needed to compensate consumers for the costs of a digital transition they never asked for. And by requiring consumers to jump through restrictive hoops to request vouchers, those who most need compensation will be the least likely to receive it.

What it means is you've got two players, two big market players ? cable and telephone companies ? controlling right now the primary two types of broadband service into the home.

Anytime you're talking about bundles of services, you're really talking about making it harder for consumers to jump to other providers.

We look forward to working with Senator McCain, other members of Congress, and the FCC on policies and legislation that will lower cable prices and bring greater cable channel choice to consumers.

It's just not like the transition from VCRs to DVD players, where consumers could slowly adopt the technology over time as the prices came down and the values improved. That's not happening here.

We don't think that's fair if the government doesn't compensate them for the cost of keeping those sets working.