The best oversight, of which I can vouch for in my area, is an MSO.
Interesting comments, Mike. IMHO, it cannot be disputed that "oversight" (if that's the appropriate term, which I doubt) of an MSO is healthy, it is certainly not the "best." What is the best? Well, IMHO, it is a pro-active community.
Regulated monopolies, as well as semi-regulated oligopolies respond to numbers, and respond to dollars and cents. Yup, this is idealistic, but IMHO, that's the "best" form of oversight. I was impressed with what the City of Cary, NC had commissioned Gartner Group to produce. Its that kind of pro-active conduct by such local governments that will enable communities to dictate to these omnipotent providers of interactivity the levels of service demanded by their constituents.
The MSO v. telco battle presently going on is certainly healthy, but IMHO it is far from the ultimate solution since if each chooses to be less competitive rather than more competitive than the other, the community will suffer. This is what is likely to happen in more rural areas than in areas of high urban density as the latter represent more dollars & cents. Hence, the argument for some level of regulation is convincing, but only to ensure that less urbanized and less economically advantaged areas are not left out of the digital era with legacy systems of the previous century.
Example
BTW, Adelphia is my MSO, and they are less than satisfactory (I'm too kind). I happen to live in an upscale area of LA that is served by a 35-year old 550 MHz all coaxial system. Adelphia has yet to spend one dime on an upgrade despite representations by Adelphia, & their predecessor, Century Communications, for more than 2 1/2 years that cable modem access would be available in "a matter of months." I have coupons in my desk drawer I received a year ago from my MSO offering discounts on a digital set-top box & cable modem installation. Today, not one iota has been done the plant here. I can only chuckle, or submit to despair.
Adelphia is under tremendous pressure to upgrade its recently acquired plant in LA as its broadcast subscribers are leaving in droves in favor of the DBS providers due to limited channel selection offered by analog systems; poor picture quality due to poor plant; and a gross misconception of what good customer service represents. Their first priority has been to rollout digital services, either over a newly upgraded HFC platform, which they've done in only a few of their smaller franchises in greater LA, or over a "upgraded" coax system, which is what they will likely do in my area because they are "under the gun."
Unfortunately, cable modem access is not their first priority as they are primarily concerned with fending off the loss of subscribers to the DBS folks. And when cable modem access arrives, indications are it is not going to be that good, judging from what other Adelphia customers who presently use Powerlink, which they affectionately call "Powerstink."
I cite my personal situation as exemplary of how MSO "oversight" is not the "best." I still await Pronto DSL, and have also extended a "personal" invitation to MSO over-builder, RCN, to come into my area, which is populated by many upscale gated communities where the marketing of such converged telecommunication & broadcast services can, IMHO, be economically accomplished on a wholesale basis.
As I see it, regulatory & local franchising regulation will only deliver so much to the consumer. From there, market forces should be leveraged by pro-active communities that have the economic wherewithal to do so.
JMO. |
