3 ms·

Comcast: Your New Overlord

3 points by abennett 17y ago

viggity 17y ago
I'm very much against the government enforcing "net neutrality", I'd much rather see regulations that eliminated the monopoly companies like comcast hold over a regional area and in turn lets the marketplace turn net neutrality a non-issue
- runevault 17y ago
  Once THAT happens I have no problem with the idea, until it happens, however, we need protection from those monopolies.
- pixelbath 17y ago
  It's a very uphill battle. I worked for the company that provides the "Get ___ Channel" promotions for MSOs (Multiple System Operators, like Comcast, Charter, Time-Warner before being bought by Comcast, etc.), and the stranglehold they have on cable is staggering. When cable first came out, it was seen as both a luxury and a way to bring high-quality programming to rural areas. Once MSOs began providing upstream data connections, they jumped through a lot of hoops to remain out of reach of telco regulation. Considering Comcast is the largest cable system provider in the US, they'll either keep lobbying themselves into immunity, or someone in Congress will get a big hair up their ass that can't be removed by "greasing the wheels," and it'll be a monopoly breakup on the scale of AT&T in 1984. Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath. Lobby money is still pretty powerful. Some good reading on the cable system history: http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=unitedstatesc http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=unitedstatesc It was sickening when I first read the history of cable, but I have since come to realize that many industries operate the same way. Expecting companies to regulate their own industries is precisely how we arrived at the current situation. Anybody remember cable deregulation in 1996? Has it gotten better since? http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/06/cable-deregulation-good-for-consumers-ars-like-hell-it-is.ars http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/06/cable-deregulatio... How about energy industry deregulation? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis
  - MaysonL 17y ago
    You forgot the big one: banking.

3 points by abennett 17y ago

I'm very much against the government enforcing "net neutrality", I'd much rather see regulations that eliminated the monopoly companies like comcast hold over a regional area and in turn lets the marketplace turn net neutrality a non-issue

runevault 17y ago
Once THAT happens I have no problem with the idea, until it happens, however, we need protection from those monopolies.
pixelbath 17y ago
It's a very uphill battle. I worked for the company that provides the "Get ___ Channel" promotions for MSOs (Multiple System Operators, like Comcast, Charter, Time-Warner before being bought by Comcast, etc.), and the stranglehold they have on cable is staggering. When cable first came out, it was seen as both a luxury and a way to bring high-quality programming to rural areas. Once MSOs began providing upstream data connections, they jumped through a lot of hoops to remain out of reach of telco regulation. Considering Comcast is the largest cable system provider in the US, they'll either keep lobbying themselves into immunity, or someone in Congress will get a big hair up their ass that can't be removed by "greasing the wheels," and it'll be a monopoly breakup on the scale of AT&T in 1984. Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath. Lobby money is still pretty powerful. Some good reading on the cable system history: http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=unitedstatesc http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=unitedstatesc It was sickening when I first read the history of cable, but I have since come to realize that many industries operate the same way. Expecting companies to regulate their own industries is precisely how we arrived at the current situation. Anybody remember cable deregulation in 1996? Has it gotten better since? http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/06/cable-deregulation-good-for-consumers-ars-like-hell-it-is.ars http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/06/cable-deregulatio... How about energy industry deregulation? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis
- MaysonL 17y ago
  You forgot the big one: banking.