Tennessee Legislator Gets It
April 26th, 2007 by Brendan SteinhauserState Representative Susan Lynn has a great post up on her blog.
Of all the issues large and small one matter seems to be a deal breaker in the question of whether we will have competition among television service providers. Build-out, or forcing a company to build-out service to unprofitable areas, is a point so contentious that inclusion may make or break the future of the bill currently before the Tennessee legislature.
Logically, cable’s dogged insistence upon build-out doesn’t really make sense. Why would anyone insist that their competitor be required to build their network out everywhere? If another newspaper came to town, established newspapers wouldn’t insist that they be “forced†to set up distribution citywide. Such insistence would only make it easier for customers to buy the new product.