William R. Richardson: “while I applaud the leadership of the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey], incredible leadership on…”

“while I applaud the leadership of the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey], incredible leadership on telecommunications issues, I must oppose this amendment, because Federal regulation of cable which began in 1993 has not worked. Regulation has resulted in the decline of cable television programming and hurt the industry's ability to invest in technology that is going to improve information services to all Americans. Because cable companies have information lines in home, cable has the potential to offer our constituents a choice in how to receive information. Cable systems pass over 96 percent of American homes with cables that carry up to 900 times as much information as the local phone company's wires. Exensive regulations prevent the cable industry from raising the capital needed to make the billion dollar investments needed to upgrade their systems. Cable's high capacity systems can ultimately deliver virtually every type of communications service conceivable, allow consumers to choose between competing providers, voice, video, and data services. I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.”