Wall Street Journal (April 29)
The cable industry is “panicked over the looming breakup of its business model” as fewer traditional linear customers want big bundles and younger viewers increasingly opt for video on demand subscriptions. Cable operators benefitted from local monopolies that allowed them to “dictate packages and pricing, markets be damned.” Though “cable bills have grown at almost triple the rate of inflation over the past two decades,” the gravy train may be coming to an end.
Tags: Cable, Customers, Inflation, Markets, Monopolies, Packages, Pricing, Video on demand, Viewers
Wall Street Journal (April 13)
“We need to get used to slower Chinese growth,” writes former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. He adds that “if, as Beijing has promised, the slowdown is accompanied by deep and serious structural reform that opens up new growth opportunities, such as allowing the private sector to compete against state monopolies in service sectors like banking and telecommunications, then China will still grow robustly compared with all other major economies.”
Tags: Banking, Beijing, China, Competition, Growth, Monopolies, Paulson, Private-sector, Slowdown, Structural reform, Telecommunications
The Economist (September 17)
The Economist salutes Japan for succeeding. “The nation responded as one, dimming lights and cranking down the air-conditioning…. Peak electricity usage fell by nearly a fifth in the Tokyo region, compared with last year. Amazingly, Japan made it through the summer without blackouts.” The Economist provides a new challenge. “The new government should break up Japan’s electricity monopolies.” Japan needs a smart grid where pricing is linked to demand, monopolies are eliminated, and generation and distribution separated.
Tags: Deregulation, Japan, Monopolies, Pricing, Smart grid, Utilities
