Mr. Chairman and Member of the Committee,

My name is Dr. Mark Cooper. I am Director of Research for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).1 I appear today on behalf of Consumers Union2 and Free Press,3 as well as CFA. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to express, yet again, the consumers’ frustration with the cable industry.

Over the past quarter century, since the deregulation of cable in 1984, consumer advocates have complained loudly about the abuse of market power in the multi-channel video programming distribution industry (MVPD) and the Congress has repeatedly become involved in attempting to address this nagging problem. The causes of the problem are clear, as are the solutions, but neither Congress nor the FCC has been willing to act to break the stranglehold that the cable industry has on the consumer’s video pocketbook. It is time to act.