CABLE-TV COMPANIES NEED TO OPEN MARKETPLACE, NOT FEDERAL REGULATORS

All over the country -- not just in Cape Girardeau and Jackson -- cable-TV rates are going up. Cable-TV companies are adding more channels, upgrading to digital and fiber-optic delivery systems and adding such services at Internet access. As a result, they are asking customers to pay more.

So many customers are complaining that the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Henry Hyde of Illinois, has suggested cable-TV rates need to be federally regulated again.

No they don't.

The marketplace will ultimately decide what price customers will pay for this service. Cable TV is feeling the pressure of competition from satellite systems. And viewers still have the option touted by over-the-air TV stations: Free service by using an antenna.

Most viewers want more than what they can get for free. And they will continue to pay the cable bill until rates are too high.