HOUSE TO EXAMINE FUTURE OF VIDEO:

Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who announced the hearing on Thursday, said the panel “will examine how advances in consumer electronics, broadcasting, cable, satellite, the Internet and other platforms are changing how consumers access video content, how those changes are impacted by existing regulations, and what type of regimes should apply going forward.”

The hearing is scheduled for June 27.

Lawmakers and regulators have begun to question whether cable companies are trying to stifle competition from online video. The Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation of cable companies including Comcast and Time Warner, according to media reports.

Cable companies provide both television and broadband Internet service for many customers. The question is whether the cable companies have illegally used their control over Internet access to prevent people from dumping their television service in favor of online video providers, such as Netflix and Hulu.

Personally, I favor people dumping cable.