US cable giants call on FCC to block cities' expansion of high-speed internet

[octoberlib]

The US cable industry called on the Federal Communications Commission on Friday to block two cities’ plans to expand high-speed internet services to their residents.

USTelecom, which represents cable giants Comcast, Time Warner and others, wants the FCC to block expansion of two popular municipally owned high speed internet networks, one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the other in Wilson, North Carolina.“The success of public broadband is a mixed record, with numerous examples of failures,” USTelecom said in a blog post. “With state taxpayers on the financial hook when a municipal broadband network goes under, it is entirely reasonable for state legislatures to be cautious in limiting or even prohibiting that activity.”

Chattanooga has the largest high-speed internet service in the US, offering customers access to speeds of 1 gigabit per second – about 50 times faster than the US average. The service, provided by municipally owned EPB, has sparked a tech boom in the city and attracted international attention. EPB is now petitioning the FCC to expand its territory. Comcast and others have previously sued unsuccessfully to stop EPB’s fibre optic roll out.

Wilson, a town of a little more than 49,000 people, launched Greenlight, its own service offering high speed internet, after complaints about the cost and quality of Time Warner cable’s service. Time Warner lobbied the North Carolina senate to outlaw the service and similar municipal efforts.


http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/29/us-telecoms-fcc-block-high-speed-internet-chattanooga

[Wella]

1. So they want the FCC to protect their profits

Interesting how companies actually hate true market capitalism when there's competition

[octoberlib]

2. Exactly! I thought they loved the free market and hated regulations.

I'm surprised they aren't screaming "Socialism!"

[Wella]

3. They really don't love the free market for themselves

In fact, most of them would never survive. The do love the free market for everyone else, however, including workers and small businesses. It's all about preventing the competition from getting a foothold.

Large corporations are indeed recipients of socialism.

[JHB]

10. That sort of screaming is what they use AstroTurf groups for

[SamKnause]

4. Monopolies do not like competition.

They wouldn't know a free market if it slapped them in the face.

The game is rigged for the big players and they continue to crush any and all competition, usually with the assistance of our corrupt elected leaders.

They used to be satisfied with a piece of the pie, not they want the whole fucking pie.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. As one who's worked in the telecommunications business for the last 36 years I say

Fuck 'em.

[URL=http://www.sherv.net/][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Either give the customers what they want or someone else will.

[Lochloosa]

12. ^^^^^^^^^^^

[LiberalAndProud]

6. They have been successful before. I suspect they will again.

And there will be no impediment as Comcast swallows Time Warner whole.

Sorry, feeling a bit fatalistic at the moment.

[Wella]

9. What's the timetable on that?

?

[LiberalAndProud]

11. On the merger, you mean?

Comcast seems to be rather confident.

http://corporate.comcast.com/twctransaction

In a memo sent to Time Warner Cable employees Thursday, C.E.O. Rob Marcus said that a strained F.C.C. could delay approval for the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.

In the letter, Marcus cited the other mega telecom merger on the Commission's docket, that of AT&T and DirecTV, as well as a possible combination of Sprint and T-Mobile. Its case load, he noted, also currently includes issues related to net neutrality and wireless spectrum auctions, with the possibility of a deal that involves Time Warner on the horizon.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/07/8549632/time-warner-cable-ceo-fcc-workload-may-delay-comcast-merger

They seem to think it's less a matter of if than when.

[Wella]

14. That is depressing.

Comcast is just so difficult to deal with.

[LiberalAndProud]

15. I could be convinced that Comcast is

the AntiChrist. If I were a believer, I mean.

[Wella]

16. What is the best internet service in your opinion?

If there is a merger (swallowing) I'm leaving Time Warner, which I generally like.

[LiberalAndProud]

17. There is no best.

I use a local third party provider that (get this) retails Time Warner service at a lower cost than Time Warner retails itself. Don't ask me how it works. I have an idea, but it is only conjecture.

This is how monopolies work. When you control the market, you control the market.

[Wella]

18. Is there a "least worst"?

[LiberalAndProud]

20. It appears that Google may be trying to launch something.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1034_3-5537392.html

Keep in mind, those thousands of miles of fiber are dark for a reason, and big cable has a great deal to do with it.

[Wella]

22. I know. They really are all monopolists at heart

That explains why we have Anthem Blue Cross getting massive subsidies and not single payer, which would be infinitely less expensive.

[sadoldgirl]

7. So they want to stifle the information we could get?

There is nothing new in that.

[Wounded Bear]

8. Methinks the only "failure" involved...

is their failure to make profits off of the people in those towns.

Once again, corporate Amerika proves that the only "right" they care about is their right to make a profit, and their desire to force us to provide it to them.

[JHB]

29. There have been a couple of legitimate failures, but they give lessons for the new ones

For example, google Burlington Telecom. That will turn up a lot of discussion and even the forensic analysis report on the failure.

From what I can glean from my short reading, though, it's failure was due to things like poor marketing or bad pricing structure. Too many potential customers didn't think it was worth it to switch, or didn't even know it existed as an option for them.

That's the sort of thing that others can learn from and correct relatively easily, which is why the big companies want to emphasize the failure itself and not the details of it.

And even where there have been failures, the improved infrastructure is still there in the ground, awaiting better development. These guys are trying to prevent anyone else from making the improvements.

[Lochloosa]

13. 1 gigabit per second.....wow

[Snarkoleptic]

19. Superior service, great price...this must be stopped!

Can't have the little people discovering socialized services are better than monopolistic privatized services.

[davidpdx]

21. Screw'em, if a community that wants to develop an internet service that is better

then the companies can either get more competitive or move on.

[Wella]

23. The problem is they will just run to the FCC and get policies put in place to prevent it

I remember hearing years ago that there was one telecommunications law firm in DC that wrote all of telecom law and policy, and that their lawyers ended up as FCC chairs or commissioners. This was back in the 90s so maybe things have changed.

[davidpdx]

24. Maybe that was the big teleco bill at the end of Clinton's last term

My guess is you are right, that special interests would be just as entrenched as back then.

[Wella]

25. I think it was. 1996 if I remember correctly

There was one big law firm that pulled the strings. So often these Federal agencies are not used to guard the people's rights but to protect certain monopolies.

[YOHABLO]

26. So really, there is no such thing as a free market. Nope not when the FCC is working for

Comcast et al. So how much more are we going to take folks? Any suggestions?

[d_r]

27. folks in rural areas

Are the ones hurt by this. The big companies won't come to their house because it is not profitable. Everyone loves epb. I love it. The folks just outside the line want it, but they can't give it to them.

[daredtowork]

28. Off topic, but this is weird

My uncle (before he died) lived in Wilson. Incredible to think of Wilson as the new tech leader of the free world! Surreal to think of both Wilson and Chattanooga as being ahead of San Francisco in telling these monopolies where they can shove it.

Go, Wilson! lol!