Peter Deutsch: “Mr. Chairman, the crux of this issue is, is there competition in this industry at this time on the issues of this…”

“Mr. Chairman, the crux of this issue is, is there competition in this industry at this time on the issues of this amendment? I think the answer to that is that there is. Let us be very specific about what the amendment does. The amendment would keep regulation on nonbasic services. Basic service would continue regulation beyond the 15-month period. For nonbasic service, for HBO, Cinemax, and things like that. There is competition today in just about any place in this country, and I know for a fact in my community you can buy a minisatellite dish. You can go to Blockbuster Video and rent a video. Many people choose that. Cable passes 97 percent of the homes in this country, yet only 60 percent of those homes choose to purchase cable systems. What this bill does is it gives an opportunity for this country to enter a new age, an age for competition throughout our telecommunications. The major opportunity is there for the phone systems for competition through the cable system. Again, in my own area of south Florida, cable systems are actively marketing competition in commercial lines, today, against phone systems.”