One of those unicorn dreams that the Republican Party and its henchmen like FCC chair Ajit Pai promised everyone was that getting rid of regulations and slashing taxes on the rich and corporations would promote big-time spending by the wealthiest members of our society. That prediction been wrong in literally every way possible. Big telecoms like Verizon have already said that they are not going to invest more in their buildout of networks. If you aren’t named Mitch McConnell, you are not surprised. Ars Technica reports that Charter Communications is adding its name to the transparent money grab, announcing in a Jan. 31 earnings announcement that they would be spending about “$2 billion less on capital improvements to its Spectrum cable network.”
This is not exactly new news. Last fall, we reported that industry analysts saw slowdowns in infrastructure investments across the board in the telecom industry, with predictions of even slower investment in the near future. This is exactly the opposite of what conservative economists promised, on their worthless degrees, would happen.
As Ars Technica points out, Charter Communications also explained to investors that costs would also decrease for the company. And you know how cost decreases by unregulated big businesses with virtual monopolies work out great for consumers? You don’t? Oh, right, no one born yesterday can read just yet.
Charter said that "promotional rate step-ups and modest rate adjustments"—price increases, in other words—helped offset the fact that many customers purchase only Internet service and thus aren't paying for TV.
People aren’t paying for television for a couple of reasons. Cable companies have continued to raise rates on television packages (and now, internet packages) while providing less quality television, forcing consumers to buy channels they have zero interest in, all while not providing better service. This is in no small part due to monopoly and duopoly positions in our economy, completely unchecked by the governmental departments and politicians tasked to curb their bad behavior.