I'm always skeptical when I see a story about a study commissioned and paid for by a company who obviously benefits from the results of the study. CNET News.com has a story about a study conducted by Yale Braunstein, professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley, which concluded that competition in the cable television market from phone companies could save consumers significant money. The study was commissioned and paid for by AT&T, who coincidentally is busy lobbying in state houses and on Capitol Hill to clear some red tape and make it easier to roll out their IPTV services.

The logic of the study is sound, cable prices have continued to climb and most cable companies do enjoy virtual regional monopolies, more choices should reduce prices across the board. The only problem is that this same line of reasoning could be used for satellite television services. DirecTV and Dish Network aren't startups anymore, they're legitimate competition and they've removed the costly obstacles to switching from cable to satellite with promotion offers which reduce the initial cost of switching over to basically nothing.

IPTV services have a slight advantage over satellite services because there is a stigma associated with the hassle of installing a dish, but the switchover to IPTV would not be hassle-free. Cable television is so pervasive it's probably going to be a long time before competition forces them to significantly drop their prices. — Brian Ward

Go to story from CNET News.com

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