FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin spoke today at CES and did a Q&A with Gary Shapiro, President & CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association. In his remarks, he talked about the coming Digital Transition, confirming that the “hard date” continues to be set in stone.

Actually, he remarked on a number of issues, but I’d like to zero in on comments he made towards the end of the session. The question of cable prices was raised and Chairman Martin reiterated remarks he has made on other occasions. He spoke of the increase in cable prices, which he characterized as too high, and said that “I’m doing everything I can” to increase competition, which he sees as a panacea. He said that prices in “almost every area” had decreased, although the examples he gave were from telephony and data services.

Gee whiz, where to begin?

Cable services, cell phone services. Apples, oranges. That’s one objection. Just to pick one aspect, the rise in prices is driven, in part, by increases in programming costs. A cell phone call isn’t going to ask for a salary bump next season.

Or maybe I should point out that comparing today’s prices with those of 1996 is a little goofy, given the small analog offering of ten years ago and today’s bundle of digital, high definition, and video-on-demand. There’s a factsheet on the NCTA website which compares 1995 to 2005 and finds that consumers were getting more channels, watching more cable programming and getting more value for their dollar.

This fits in with another good piece of research by Professor Steven S. Wildman of Michigan State University. He argued that the “real (inflation-adjusted) price of cable service divided by the number of hours spent watching basic cable programming” was a good way of measuring prices. If you pay 10 bucks for service and watch 10 hours, then you paid a buck an hour. If you pay 20 bucks and watch 60 hours, then you paid 33 cents an hour.

NCTA has also pointed out that cable’s bundle of video, high-speed Internet and voice service costs 23 percent less than ten years ago. Chairman Martin argues that a mandatory a la carte scheme will save money, but there’s plenty of evidence that suggests just the opposite.

Let’s just say we disagree and let it go at that.