Most countries have assigned price controls to the trash heap of history, but not The Bahamas at least where URCA is concerned.
If the law gives them the authority to do so or not, it boggles the mind that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) would see fit to set prices for the local cable company.
Should the cable company be over charging for their services the consumer will find a way around it, by using satellite dishes etc.
Better still, why not say to Cable Bahamas, sure you can raise your prices and seek to review their license and allow competition. That way, the consumer will be better served.
Besides, the action by URCA is a direct contradiction of what their name implies. They're not encouraging competition, they're stifling it!
Read the summary publication of the URCA Decision, CBL's SuperBasic Price Application, here…
Read the complete release (pdf) here…
You might also like to read, Forty Centuries of Wage And Price Controls by Robert L. Schuettinger and Eamonn F. Butler for a better understanding of one of the most ridiculous public policies ever conceived. Download a pdf here…
Good points, but I wonder if Cable Bahamas’ new price will become the new normal…the new market price. Then the competition (if one ever arrives) would simply follow suit. Of course there is no way to know what competition would do, and in addition an overpriced Cable Bahamas would make the opportunity for a competitor more appealing. So I guess between allowing and denying a price hike by CB I’m with you…but only if it allows competition.
However though, the door for competition is already wide open. Customers like me who only want four to five live channels at most (cnn, msnbc, fox etc) but also want Cable Bahamas’s internet service are stuck with a $35 TV package that is frustratingly overkill for their needs.
Cable Bahamas could go a much further way in public support for this issue if they are willing to offer customers a five-channel ‘a la carte’ option at a reduced cost. With the next level possibly being the $30 something package.
Cable Bahamas, like cell phones, and yes like the Numbers Businesses prey on those who can least afford the “Luxury”
Of course, All the above have become entitlements haven’t they.
URCA is doing what every other Government Dept or Civil servant does:
Control whatever is under their control.
Not Enable under their authority.
The only price control we need in this country is for the government to stop taxing business to death,period.Who will stop this criminal activity ? I do believe it is criminal with the amount of tax business has to pay.If the government would put the same amount of time & effort into the crime & justice system as they do into this nonsense,maybe we just might get somewhere.
Rick I am happy cable was denied their rate increase, and think they got off easy, they should have been fined for their subpar service. There are always channels out, channels freezing, and channels in Spanish. Their internet at best (in my area) reaches only the slowest available speed regardless of the package you pay for.
I do agree,there should not be one channel in Spanish unless I want it in a package period.I am also sick of these Bahamian commercials,if I wanted to see them I would watch ZNS.I do not like these cut-in commercials.I still think if they want an Increase they should be allowed to do so.If its to much then I will buy my Internet like I buy my satellite,from a different place.
Be careful what you wish for Jerry. They may decide to run your life.
We are a country of laws not men :o)
It is not a government employee or politicians job to decide what you or me or Cable charges for a service.
In a free country if someone offers what we consider bad service, or rips us off, we don’t have to go back. They either get better or go out of business.
The industry I work in is also under price control.
It is an archaic system and should be abolished.
Cable Bahamas, BTC and the Port should come under price control, they are granted a monopoly by the government. Government granted monopoly is far more wrong than price control in my humble opinion.
Thanks Jerry, but those regulating are no better humans than business people so I do not put faith in them.
The same people saw the benefit of granting a monopoly in the first place and as you say might be worse than price controls so why should we trust their judgement on price controls?
I disagree with Jerry altogether about price control.Price control should not even exist.Does Jerry have anything he is selling & would he like for the government to say sorry but even though you paid $3.00 for that item,you can only sell it for $2.00 ? If Jerry gets $40.00 an hour for doing work for someone would he like the government to say no way,you can only charge $20.00 an hour ?
Dennis, my point simply is if you have a government guaranteed monopoly there should be a limit on the amount of profit you can make. Price control in general makes everyone suffer the consumer by not being able to purchase the goods they want and the business who have to wait for government to catch up. Lets leave the price control issue out of the conversation and I ask do you really think Cable Bahamas is giving the basic customer value for their money?
Jerry,I am not happy with some of the things that cable is doing & complaints seem to fall on deaf ears sometimes.I am happy that we have cable because before that we could only watch TV when the weather was perfect & the choices were slim.I purchased a satellite because I was not happy with cable & complaining changed nothing so I moved on,simple as that.I keep basic cable just for back up.I think the hell that needs to be raised is with BEC,now that is a government controlled monopoly that is I feel is ripping us off big time.
So Jerry, let me see if I understand you.
We need price control government policy to regulate monopoly government policy?
Seems we should have neither?
Correct Rick,we should have neither of them.The government are the ones that have us in this position right now.Piss poor management & stupid decisions on the whole.
Rick your last line sums it up correctly we need neither, but in my opinion when you have monopolies price control is needed.
Jerry, I’m not satisfied that a country should add to the bureaucratic maze of one bad public policy with another.
It simply makes it worse and the market mechanisms cannot work.
i.e. we won’t stop using the service forcing the changes necessary etc.
Are you kidding Jerry, price control, seriously? All they end up doing is threatening some poor fellow who has a can of corn beef priced .10 cents more than “They” say it should be. Hog wash & price control should not even be in our vocabulary. Wait till the VAT comes along you will see an increase then for sure. I believe it will shut this country down & I pray they do NOT go ahead with it. Hell needs to be raised with the government on that for sure.