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To: Profi who wrote (2416)	7/9/1998 9:55:00 PM
From: ahhaha	Respond to of 29970

I thought I had addressed these issues in my comments. Adelphia is protected from competition by Congress's attempt to fix cable tv rates. Congress's intent was to protect people from profiteering corporations. Congress never believes that the only force that levels the playing field is unfettered competition. Members of Congress have mostly been educated to believe that corporate power colludes and prevents the market from being free. This has never occurred without Congress creating laws which they believe stimulates competition, but which has the exact opposite effect. The Telcom Act of 1996 is a very good example of this. If there were a competitor allowed to enter Adelphia's "territory" such as TCI and then if TCI made ATHM available, then Adelphia would have no choice but to offer it too. The reason why is that people would want ATHM's speed and content over what Adelphia could field. The world of cable MSO is gerrymandered into service areas which effectively preclude entry of any competitor. It has been explained to me that no competitor would come in and incur the cost of their own wiring set-up. Going by that assumption Congress has decided to fix rates. The outcome is junk service, junk programs, ratcheting up of rates, and an antiquated system. The internet has inherited the evils done to protect the public in the cable tv arena. Let's assume the non-competitive model will stay in place. Adelphia does not have a means by which they can distribute high speed rich multimedia content. So the option of ATHM is moot. Adelphia would have to upgrade their system. If they did that then they could offer ATHM. Why would they bother? After all, isn't it sharing profit? Given the prevailing attitude that it is better that all have less to prevent a few from getting more, it doesn't make sense. But if Adelphia can increase profits by providing ATHM more so than they could if they tried to roll their own, wouldn't they do that? Consider that most of the major MSOs in the country think that relegating the mix and delivery to ATHM is the best way to fly. Why are they doing so? They are doing that because of branding, potential for great multimedia in many formats, and through this a major increase in service revenues. You didn't understand that you can't have good content without the current highest levels of speed. Your view about what others wouldn't do, wouldn't lay cable, is the prevailing view. If you can't see it, it can't be done. America sure has come a long way baby from the can-do attitude of the past. However it's going to be done over Congress's dead body if necessary. You can't stop what people want. As soon as people see what others have, you'll see the cable stringing trucks rolling through your neighborhood. Then if you read your comments you would say, "I never said that".