 tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3
 ·Comcast
| reply to Wilsdom
Re: idea ! said by Wilsdom:No, they were granted monopolies by government. Strings are attached
That was the end result, but initially in place like new york city cable only got started after an extensive petitioning process by the CATV companies, fought tooth and nail by television stations, advertisers and politicians trying to protect the existing industries.
the cost of startup besides the physical plant was huge RoW and franchise fees as well is payment/establishment of public access TV production facilities (citizen and gov't run channels, not PBS) and forced to cover all areas (even areas likely to be very unprofitable for many years*) of a franchise with rollout timetables in return for exclusivity in some places. not really monopolies as broadcast still existed and even large cities ended up with dozens of cable companies serving differnt areas, but in a high cash flow- high expense business consolidation started very quickly.
as today, margins a thin enough that very few high density areas can sustain multiple overlapping cable plants
* The many years is over, most areas have reached saturation between various competing services. New Customers must be won from competitors, or by new product types. and unprofitable areas now can raise prices to repay the years of investment. |
