Pricing and Multi-Market Contact in the Cable TV Industry

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Pricing and Multi-Market Contact in the Cable TV Industry

Author Info

Robert Seamans () (Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley)

Abstract

This paper links empirical literature on the use of price as an entry deterring mechanism with literature on the effect of multi-market contact on competition. The analysis uses a dataset of cable TV system prices to provide evidence that incumbent cable TV firms use price to deter entry by telecom overbuilders as well as cities with municipal utilities. There is also some evidence that multi-market contact with telecom overbuilders results in lower prices. However, there is no evidence that incumbents use price to deter cable overbuilders. In addition to linking entry deterrence with multi-market contact, this study has two other unique features. First, it establishes entry deterrence using two techniques, one of which relies on theory by Ellison and Ellison (2008) on non-monotonic price decreases in response to entry probability. Second, it uses detailed price and channel data at the service tier level.

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Paper provided by NET Institute in its series Working Papers with number 08-13.

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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2008
Date of revision: Oct 2008
Handle: RePEc:net:wpaper:0813

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises
L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2008-10-21 (All new papers)
NEP-COM-2008-10-21 (Industrial Competition)
NEP-CUL-2008-10-21 (Cultural Economics)
NEP-IND-2008-10-21 (Industrial Organization)
NEP-MIC-2008-10-21 (Microeconomics)
NEP-MKT-2008-10-21 (Marketing)

References listed on IDEAS
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William M. Emmons III & Robin A. Prager, 1997. "The Effects of Market Structure and Ownership on Prices and Service Offerings in the U.S. Cable Television Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(4), pages 732-750, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1982. "Limit Pricing and Entry under Incomplete Information: An Equilibrium Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 443-59, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Scott Savage & Michael Wirth, 2005. "Price, Programming and Potential Competition in US Cable Television Markets," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 25-46, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2005. "How do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," NBER Working Papers 11072, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
- Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2004. "How Do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," Working Papers 04-04, NET Institute, revised Dec 2004. [Downloadable!]
- Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2008. "How do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 123(4), pages 1611-1633, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Hauge, Janice A. & Jamison, Mark A. & Gentry, Richard J., 2008. "Bureaucrats as entrepreneurs: Do municipal telecommunications providers hinder private entrepreneurs," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 89-102, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Glenn Ellison & Sara Fisher Ellison, 2007. "Strategic Entry Deterrence and the Behavior of Pharmaceutical Incumbents Prior to Patent Expiration," NBER Working Papers 13069, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Leemore S. Dafny, 2005. "Games Hospitals Play: Entry Deterrence in Hospital Procedure Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(3), pages 513-542, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1982. "Predation, reputation, and entry deterrence," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 280-312, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
- Paul Milgrom & John Roberts, 1997. "Predation, reputation , and entry deterrence," Levine's Working Paper Archive 1460, David K. Levine. [Downloadable!]
- Paul Milgrom & John Roberts, 1980. "Predation, Reputation, and Entry Deterrence," Discussion Papers 427, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science. [Downloadable!]
John W. Mayo & Yasuji Otsuka, 1991. "Demand, Pricing, and Regulation: Evidence from the Cable TV Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(3), pages 396-410, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Austan Goolsbee & Amil Petrin, 2004. "The Consumer Gains from Direct Broadcast Satellites and the Competition with Cable TV," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(2), pages 351-381, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Stefano DellaVigna & Ethan Kaplan, 2007. "The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 122(3), pages 1187-1234, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
B. Douglas Bernheim & Michael D. Whinston, 1990. "Multimarket Contact and Collusive Behavior," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(1), pages 1-26, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Bagwell, Kyle, 1992. "A Model of Competitive Limit Pricing," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(4), pages 585-606, Winter.

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