Comcast Cable Viewers Pay Millions of Dollars to CEO Brian Roberts; Really? for What?

Back in the day when cable television was first born the huge attraction was that it was commercial free television and that is why everyone wanted it. You paid for a basic package with a movie channel and it was affordable for the average American, but through the years they added more premium movie channels at a much higher cost and now the basic package just has a lot of channels and tons of commercials, again at a much higher cost. You would think with so many big companies going out of business, begging for government bail-outs and news media exposing excessive salaries and spending by these big businesses that Comcast would have leaned something and gave it's consumers a break, especially when unemployment is at an all time high and people are losing their homes right and left.

CNN Money.com published an article called "5 most overpaid CEO's" and Brian Roberts made the top five. Between his base salary, bonuses and stock payoffs he made a total compensation of over 40 million dollars last year. That's 40 million dollars for running Comcast and I have to wonder "why"? Sure he has won awards, has all the credentials and experience that any company could possibly want but is he really worth 40 million dollars? I am not against Mr. Roberts or anyone for that matter making a lot of money but I can't help but to think that is a ridiculously high amount of money. Even if I pay my cable bill for 10 years I will only have paid a very small fraction of his yearly salary and it's the customers, you and I, paying his salary. No wonder my cable bill is forever going up, that's a huge salary to have to cover every year so despite the fact that many people are laid off, lost their job or had to take a pay cut in wages. Comcast will continue to raise prices because they have to pay that outrageous salary. News flash Comcast, homeless people don't get cable anything and you are pricing the few that still have jobs out of being able to afford it. Comcast cable will become something only the rich people can afford and in this time of economic crises even the rich are having to make cuts in spending and when making cuts the cable bill will be one of the first expenses to go.

Another huge issue with Comcast and one of the main reasons they are surviving is that they have an unfair monopoly in some cities and I really wish someone would legally fight this. I know this for a fact because I happen to live in one of those cities. Another cable company cannot operate in this city so I have no freedom of choice, if I want cable, it has to be Comcast. I know, I tried to get WOW (Wide Open West) and I can't. They can't offer cable in my city. This is not fair to me and it is not fair to WOW either. They should be free to operate in any city they choose and this gives Comcast an unfair advantage. How can you compete with a company when you cannot offer your services to that community; that means that Comcast has limited competition and in some cities no competition. I think there is a payoff in there somewhere, since Michigan's government is corrupt and full of scandals it would not surprise me in the least and I wonder how much my freedom of choice is worth. Since Comcast knows there is no competition in my city they raise their prices yearly, regardless of economic conditions, and with so many people having to make cuts in their budgets less people are able to afford it so Comcast will have to keep raising their cost even though Michigan has been hit the hardest by the recession; unemployment and homelessness is at an all time high.

So, in closing I would like to make a money saving suggestion to Comcast. Cut Brian Roberts salary to a much more reasonable wage of maybe a million dollars a year, stop giving him the enormous bonuses and you will save 39 million dollars a year, then don't raise you prices this year, give your customers the much needed break they deserve. You need to treat us better and show you appreciate us. You need to find a way to do some good in the communities in which you operate to change your image to a more positive one instead of the greedy, money grubbing image you currently have. If you don't change your ways you will be one of those big companies going out of business and I pray that some day my city will give me the freedom of choice or that some smart lawyer will decide to stick up for me and the other people in my community and fight this unfair monopoly Comcast seems to have.