Though one of the newcomers may eventually pull its proposal, it s likely that MediaOne will have at least one competitor. We have to explain to the local authorities why competition in cable TV and the Internet is a good thing, said Mike Steinkirchner, vice president of marketing for WideOpenWest. The growth in Internet demand and advances in fiber-optic, broadband technology are fueling the competition. In the 12 years I ve been doing this job, I ve received phone calls on a regular basis from people saying they want competition, Reardon said. And I can empathize with that, he added.
Competition is the American way.
We ve never had an exclusive franchise with the cable company. Sensing competition on the horizon, the commission has worked since late 1998 to revise its franchising policies, Reardon said. After receiving an overture this year from WideOpenWest and learning that Everest was also interested, the commission adopted a formal intent to franchise essentially seeking applications. Since we knew they were interested in this, and since there s also state and federal law that prohibits exclusivity in cable-television franchising, we had to follow the process, Reardon said. He said the commission could have a franchise agreement with a new company by fall.