Steve, a couple of points:
You say you have choice of one cable co or none. If ATT is th eonly one in Portland isn't that the same?
I do think the Internet is a neccessity. Will be soon, at least IMO.
You should not allow public ( ATT's ) profits to be used to buy TCI or Media 1 without common carrier provisions. Similarly the RBOCs should allow ATT into local phone,
TA
TA,
You ask,Exactly what in all this do you disagree with?
Too much to mention all of it but here's some of it.
You say, That Telecom Act applies to telephones; cable TV.
It did not apply to the Internet
I thought we were talking about carrying Internet access on cable. That's cable
content just like TV programing.
You say, We are going to have a gazillion people laying fiber optic cable in
Portland if it is profitable to do so.
The Telecommunications act, which preempted local control of cable, was sold to
congress as a form of deregulation, a way to promote competition and lower cable
cost to the consumer. It hasn't worked out that way. There is less competition (I
have a choice of one or none) and cable bills have gone up all over the country.
Instead of a gazillion people laying fiber, we get a monopoly that raises prices at
will.
You suggest, We need to have common carrier status for copper, airwaves and
cable.
With a phone, if you can pay for it, you can use it. No problem. The phone
company has to give you the line. Not so with airwaves. I cannot buy a transmitter
and start transmitting on the frequency of, say, Channel 7, because the government
licenses them that chunk of the spectrum, that is, gives them a proprietary interest in
that spectrum chunk. Cable is not a necessity, nor is the Internet (Yet). Frankly, if I
own the cable company, I'll certainly talk to any of my customers about what they
want carried on the cable--I do want them to subscribe--but I will not let them
pressure me into carrying this or that. Negotiate usually works better in the world
than litigate or legislate. If AOL wants to hitchhike on someone else's cable system,
they should make it economically attractive to do business.
Best,
--Steve<i/> |
