[ NNSquad ] Re: Fight over municipal broadband rules in North Carolina

[Cliff Sojourner <cls@employees.org>]

 hi Richard,

On 2011-03-15 16:11, Richard Bennett wrote:
> ...
>
> There's a huge element of bad faith bargaining on the part of the 
> towns that operate their own triple play networks in competition with 
> the cable company. Towns previously granted the cable company an 
> exclusive license to offer cable TV, which encouraged the cable 
> companies to invest in a community network on the expectation that 
> their investments would ultimately pay back the investment and earn a 
> profit.

you've got the cause and effect reversed

towns grant the exclusive monopoly because it is extorted - without it, 
the cable company refuses to serve the town at all.

Cliff