Esser: ‘All I Ask is that it's a Level Playing Field’
Cox Communications President Pat Esser spoke with Light Reading TV about some of the hot topics affecting his business and cable and telecom this year. Here’s what he had to say about national video franchises being sought by AT&T, Verizon and other RBOCs:
“I’m not opposed to a national video franchise. In fact, I think if that’s what the country wants, that’s fine. All I ask is that it’s a level playing field and that we live under the same terms and conditions, one competitor versus another. And if they’re given a different franchise than I am, I (should) be able to opt in to that same franchise. I do caution, because we work with local cities so closely and have for so many years, that managing rights of way inside our markets is a complex issue and really a local issue. And I hope that the federal government, whatever they decide, respect the fact that the local cities have a responsibility to manage the rights of way and keep that intact. (They should) also think about the anti-competitive behavior, discriminatory behavior and red-lining that can occur in the marketplace, and put some safeguards in place so that doesn’t happen. Other than that, nothing about a national video franchise concerns me.”
On the ‘market share war’:
“The household is becoming a very complex place, and the average consumer wants help. At Cox, we see ourselves as a place where we can be a trusted provider. We use the term “Your Friend in the Digital Age.” I really mean that—a place you can call someone you trust to help solve those problems. While (the cable industry) has rolled out new products and services, we haven’t understood that we’re in a market share war. We need to think about that, day in and day out. Whether they currently get cable service from us today or not, we want to connect every home in our market to our network. So (we're investing) a lot more energy around making sure we maintain that position as a trusted provider and also how we maintain the growth rate we’ve seen the last five or 10 years and continue to grow market share.”
Posted on June 30, 2006 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
