The Boston Herald
April 25, 2000 Tuesday
Giving ISPs Access To Cable Will Hurt Consumers, Report Says

Consumer advocates brushed aside yesterday a new report claiming that consumers would be hurt by passage of a ballot question that would force open cable TV systems to competing Internet service providers.
The report, prepared by a Harvard Law School researcher and released on the eve of a State House hearing on the ballot question today, says that forcing cable TV system operators to make their lines available to all ISPs would raise costs for taxpayers and strip many of the protections that consumers now enjoy.
"This report confirms our fears that the ballot question could have disastrous, if unintended, consequences for consumers and taxpayers," said Maria Farrah-John, spokeswoman for Consumers and Internet Providers for Technology Competition, which commissioned the report.
But Paul Schlaver, chairman of the Massachusetts Consumers Coalition and director of the Cambridge Consumers Council, dismissed the study, written by communications consultant Stuart N. Brotman, as no more than promotional grist for those interested in protecting their business interests by limiting access to competition.
"The important issue is, people are going to have more choices (with open access)," Schlaver said. "To me, if a consumer has choices, it's an inherent pressure on companies to offer better products and services."
His group is among several that support the ballot question and want to put the issue before voters in November.
Brotman's report claims that although proponents have succeeded in portraying open access as "all gain, no pain," it contains potential problems for consumers.
He said budgets could rise for cable franchising authorities in cities and towns, forcing them to raise taxes. Consumers could also be victimized by unscrupulous Internet service providers and be forced to accept lower levels of on-line privacy protection, he claimed.
And the ballot measure could also resurrect the state's "Taxachusetts" label in the new Internet economy and produce a "crazy quilt" of regulations that would vary from community to community, Brotman argued.
A public hearing on the ballot question is planned at 1 p.m. today in the Gardner Auditorium at the State House.