Dr. Adrian Moore at the Reason Foundation regularly sends out policy prescription emails. Not to be confused with anyone on “Scrubs” (though he has a suitable sense of humor), Dr. Moore offered this diagnosis: “Competition in video services is here, if policymakers will embrace technological change and more choices for consumers.”

He reports, “A little over a year ago in Keller and Plano, Texas, just outside of Dallas, Charter Communications was charging $68.99 for cable TV service in the area. But after Texas passed statewide franchise reform, Verizon jumped into the Keller and Plano markets offering 180 channels for just $43.95 or 35 channels for just $12.95. Charter responded by slashing its prices and offering a bundle of 240 channels – plus high-speed Internet – for just $50, $18.99 less than they were charging previously for cable alone.”

Arizona, California, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia have all passed video franchise reform laws since 2005. Wrote Moore, “George Mason University recently demonstrated franchise reform could save Americans $9 billion a year.” If public servant revenue junkies can end their monopoly-cable-TV-franchise-fee addiction, consumers would enjoy the kind of innovation and choice that breaking up AT&T gave them.

For more about healthier cable service and lower prices, refer to Reason’s reports Better Prices and Better Services for More People: Assessing the Outcomes of Video Franchise Reform (PDF) and I Want My MTV: Reforming Video Franchises for Competitive TV Services (PDF).