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"because they have entrenched government-granted but relatively unregulated monopolies." Have you ever thought why it is they have those monopolies? Because t

by larrys 14y ago

"because they have entrenched government-granted but relatively unregulated monopolies." Have you ever thought why it is they have those monopolies? Because they were granted to them as a right in order to justify having to string cable into homes to deliver a product that was nascent at the time in many communities. Let's say I come up with an idea to wire up an office building to deliver a new service (blue mood lighting to offices). And I get a chance to bid on that along with other people. I win the bid and therefore I get to deliver the product after I pay the cost of installing it and the risk that only a few offices will want the product.. That doesn't mean that bad deals weren't cut in some places. But cable has a monopoly for a reason. This company for reference went bust many years ago despite having a virtual monopoly on broadband in offices: http://venturebeatprofiles.com/company/profile/broadband-office http://venturebeatprofiles.com/company/profile/broadband-off...

AnthonyMouse 14y ago
You can fairly argue that utilities are natural monopolies and that having a government regulated monopoly is more efficient. That's a reasonable position. But then it has to be a government regulated monopoly. You can't just let them do whatever they want or they'll walk all over everybody. In particular, a monopoly over the wire should not be allowed to be leveraged into a monopoly over content. Utility companies should be utility companies, period, and leave the content distribution to competing content distributors.
jstalin 14y ago
"Because they were granted to them as a right in order to justify having to string cable into homes to deliver a product that was nascent at the time in many communities." I'd be willing to bet that the initial capital cost of stringing up the nation with cable TV cable has been recouped. Time to end the monopolies.

by larrys 14y ago

AnthonyMouse 14y ago

You can fairly argue that utilities are natural monopolies and that having a government regulated monopoly is more efficient. That's a reasonable position. But then it has to be a government regulated monopoly. You can't just let them do whatever they want or they'll walk all over everybody. In particular, a monopoly over the wire should not be allowed to be leveraged into a monopoly over content. Utility companies should be utility companies, period, and leave the content distribution to competing content distributors.

jstalin 14y ago

"Because they were granted to them as a right in order to justify having to string cable into homes to deliver a product that was nascent at the time in many communities." I'd be willing to bet that the initial capital cost of stringing up the nation with cable TV cable has been recouped. Time to end the monopolies.