4 ms·

The 1996 Telecommunications Act was intended to increase intramodal competition between incumbent phone companies and newer competitors on local and long distan

The 1996 Telecommunications Act was intended to increase intramodal competition between incumbent phone companies and newer competitors on local and long distance phone calls. What actually happened is the landline phone companies moved on to cellphones and broadband. You can get TV service from your phone company, and phone service from your cable TV company. Kids physical toys sales declined in the face of computerized entertainment. Satellite radio merged saying the market niche wasn't big enough for two companies to survive. Netflix said its biggest competitor is a video game Fortnite not other Internet TV subscriptions, and it even competes with people's sleep hours.

jauntywundrkind 3y ago
Even broadband was going great under the Telecommunications Act. Dialup, isdn, & dal were quite competitive markets. Being able to get unlimited dialup for $15/mo changed my young life. But then the courts stepped in & started bullying the FCC & pushing against their attempts to do what Congress has insisted upon. FCC was semi compelled to accept arguments that, oh, fiber to the premise/home is expensive to roll out, and the courts are being unrelenting asshats about any attempt to do what Congress asked us to do, so whatever, we give up: you can have a monopoly. One of the most crucial judicial/corporate activism projects in American history, totally changed the face of the internet in the states. All these ideas of municipal isps: we shouldn't even be having these arguments. This should be unbundled infrastructure that doesn't need to be rebuilt by any new player. 2003 was a sad sad year. America lost, in the worst fashion, to bad free market ideologists with a stranglehold obstructing governance. Awful bastards, them. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-03-36A1.pdf https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-03-36A1.pdf The FCC today is still absolutely ruthless on getting the Telecommunications Act. Slow roll out but basically most existing protections for unbundled fiber within a city have gotten repealed almost entirely, with rare exception. 8 beg for some evidence the FCC has put up any resistance whatsoever to letting the world be consumed by massive inefficient incumbents; they seem wholly against the people.

jauntywundrkind 3y ago

Even broadband was going great under the Telecommunications Act. Dialup, isdn, & dal were quite competitive markets. Being able to get unlimited dialup for $15/mo changed my young life. But then the courts stepped in & started bullying the FCC & pushing against their attempts to do what Congress has insisted upon. FCC was semi compelled to accept arguments that, oh, fiber to the premise/home is expensive to roll out, and the courts are being unrelenting asshats about any attempt to do what Congress asked us to do, so whatever, we give up: you can have a monopoly. One of the most crucial judicial/corporate activism projects in American history, totally changed the face of the internet in the states. All these ideas of municipal isps: we shouldn't even be having these arguments. This should be unbundled infrastructure that doesn't need to be rebuilt by any new player. 2003 was a sad sad year. America lost, in the worst fashion, to bad free market ideologists with a stranglehold obstructing governance. Awful bastards, them. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-03-36A1.pdf https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-03-36A1.pdf The FCC today is still absolutely ruthless on getting the Telecommunications Act. Slow roll out but basically most existing protections for unbundled fiber within a city have gotten repealed almost entirely, with rare exception. 8 beg for some evidence the FCC has put up any resistance whatsoever to letting the world be consumed by massive inefficient incumbents; they seem wholly against the people.