question archive Gouge-em Cable Company is the only cable television service company licensed to operate in Backwater County

Gouge-em Cable Company is the only cable television service company licensed to operate in Backwater County

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Gouge-em Cable Company is the only cable television service company licensed to operate in Backwater County. Most of its costs are access fees and maintenance expenses. These fixed costs total $640,000 monthly. The marginal cost of adding another subscriber to its system is constant at $2 per month. Gouge-em's demand curve can be determined from the data in the accompanying table.

Complete the following table by computing the total revenue, total cost, and profit at each of the various subscription prices.

Subscription Price Number of Subscribers Total Revenue Total Cost Profit
(Per Month)
$25 20,000      
20 40,000      
15 60,000      
10 80,000      
5 100,000      
1 150,000      

Gouge-em will charge   for its cable services, earning them a profit of.

Now suppose the Backwater County Public Utility Commission has the data and believes that cable subscription rates in the county are too expensive and that Gouge-em's profits are unfairly high.

What regulated price will it set so that Gouge-em makes only a normal rate of return on its investment?

1. $5

2. $10

3. $15

4. $20

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Answer:

Total revenue (TR) = Price (P) * Quantity (Q)

Total cost (TC) = fixed cost (FC) + variable cost

= FC + (2 * Q)

Profit = Total revenue - Total cost

Price ($) Quantity Total revenue Fixed cost Total cost Profit
$25 20,000 $500,000 $640,000 $680,000 -180,000
20 40,000 800,000 640,000 720,000 -80,000
15 60,000 900,000 640,000 760,000 140,000
10 80,000 800,000 640,000 800,000 0
5 100,000 500,000 640,000 840,000 -340,000
1 150,000 150,000 640,000 940,000 -790,000

Gouge-em will charge $15 (Profit is highest at this price), earning a profit of $140,000.

To earn Normal return only, profit should be zero. This holds true when price is $10 .