From: walsh@optilink.COM (Mark Walsh)
Newsgroups: ba.politics
Subject: Re: Cable TV: Disorganized Crime, Was: Re: dangerous group
Date: 6 Jan 93 00:50:31 GMT
Distribution: ba
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

From article <26qW0338c7Ym00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>, by jsp@uts.amdahl.com (James Preston):
> walsh@optilink.COM (Mark Walsh) writes:
> 
# }Welcome to the world of free markets.  If I owned a cable
# }company, I too would do whatever it took to increase the
# }profits for my stockholders.  If a 10% rate hike meant a
# }5% decrease in subscribers, I would still have 5% more
# }revenue.  This is called "Life in the Big City" folks.

> It's called "greed".  There _is_ such a thing as a fair and reasonable
> profit that serves equally well the two purposes of providing sufficient
> profit for the stockholders and making most customers feel that they are
> getting their monies worth.  It is not necessary to push the former to
> the upper limit while pushing the latter to the lower limit.

I hope that this does not cause you grief, but the purpose
of most businesses is to make money for the owners of that
business.  Call this greed if you will, but it is the basis
for the world as we know it.  Sure, there have been experiments
to the contrary (communism, socialism, etc.), but they have not
worked out very well.  Who is better at determining the manner
in which a business should be run?  You?  Me?  The government?
Oh, what about the owners?  Hmmm...  they might know something.

# }What can you do about it?  For one, stop pretending that
# }they are a monopoly.  There are many other sources of
# }information.  Still want to watch the tube?  The antenna
# }system that I put up in 1985 (antenna, rotator,mast, mast-
# }mounted pre-amp, feedline, lightning arrestor, guy wires,
# }etc.) cost no more than a year's worth of cable, and is
# }still working fine.  I get all of the stations from S.F.,
# }S.J., and Sacramento in my Santa Rosa home, it does not
# }cost me a dime, and I don't have to deal with those cable
# }system outages and contribute to RF leaking out through
# }el-cheapo connectors all over the place.

> But do you get CNN, Nickelodean, Arts & Entertainment, American Movie
> Classics, USA, Lifetime, The Family Channel, Bravo, TBS, TNT, MTV?  I

Much of the programming available through these services is
already available free through the land based station
network.  And might I suggest the new VCR Plus?

> personally want those services and I use them.  I live in a condo, so
> putting up a satellite dish is not possible.

Yes, that is one of the costs of living in a condo.
You also cannot have a monster truck rally in your backyard.

> If you can tell me how
> I can get the above services through some means other than my one-and-
> only cable company, I am all ears.
                               ^^^^
Might they be rabbit ears?  An good indoor antenna might help.

> Until then, don't give me this
> crap that it's not a monopoly.  Just because it's not a monopoly on
> the types of television services that _you_ are interested in doesn't
> mean that it's not a monopoly on the services that other people want.

Yep, and just because you don't eat Indian food doesn't
mean that the sole Indian restaurant in town here is not
a monopoly.  Actually, more and more new cities are setting
up an infrastructure with competing cable companies, but I
feel that this is redundant.

> Your argument is the same as arguing that PG&E is not a monopoly because
> you can just use candles and a kerosene heater.

Will your life be threatened if you get your [TV] cable
disconnected?  If so, seek professional help immediately.
-- 
Mark Walsh (walsh@optilink) -- UUCP: uunet!optilink!walsh
AOL: BigCookie -- Amateur Radio: KM6XU@WX3K -- USCF: L10861
"What, me worry?" - William M. Gaines, 1922-1992