i'm alfred edmond, jr. >> tom: if you have a teenager at home, are you ready for prom? on average, families spend over $1,000 on high school proms this year. how much you spend depends on where you live. tomorrow, find out which parts of the country are shelling out the most cash for the rite of passage. we asked our facebook friends what they spent on prom back in the day. sergio says, "dinner and corsage (no limo)-- maybe $200 tops in '81." duru spent around $100 and borrowed his dad's car, and he says, "that sure seemed like a lot of money back then." also tomorrow, we talk with louisiana senator mary landrieu about the b.p. oil spill two years on. that's it for us tonight. "nightly business report" for thursday, april 19. i'm tom hudson. we'll see you online and back here tomorrow night. "nhtly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

alfred edmond is here with us and gene marks is here as well. >> thanks for having me. >> matt, you worka lot of small cable companies but surely you don't have the deep pockets, even combined, of the big guys that are out there, time warners and our parent company, comcast. how, even combine, do you get a voice in washington? >> well, it's been a process since 1993. we came together, i've been in the cable business since actually 1986. i've known this business intimately. we realized in 1992 when congress reregulated the cable industry that we as small independent companies didn't have a voice. what we said is we have to come together as smaller companies to tell our story. who better but us as small businesses to tell our stories where we live in small markets in rural areas. >> i want to turn to something else in the piece. a lot of times you think the big companies move in and there's no room for small business. what was interesting about this piece, actually these businesses were created because the big guys weren't interested. these were castoffs. the reason the small company can e

alfred edmond is the editor at large of media.com. we are joined by the president of the marks group, a technology an consulting firm. great to have you here. so, matt, you work with a lot of small cable companies, but surely, you don't have the deep pockets even combined of the big guys out there, and the time warners and the parent company comcast, so how even combined do you get a voice in washington? >> well, it is a process. it has come together since 1993, and i have been in the business since 1986 and i have known the business intimately and we realized when congress reregulated the cable business that we small independents don't have a voice. we said that we have to come together as smaller companies to tell our story, and who better than us as small businesses to tell our stories where we live in small markets and rural area s. >> i wanted to turn to something else in the piece, because a lot of times you think that the big companies move in and no room for small business, but what is interesting about this piece is that thes