Scott Shelley, vice president of Cable TV Arlington, says he enjoys a good relationship with the county government. Still, a recent negotiation turned the previous 40-page franchise agreement into 101 pages. Prime Media even agreed to provide the local government with an intraoffice network. If cable companies were monopolies, they could pass on their costs to their customers. But cable isn't a necessity like water or electricity.
Viewers can easily opt for old-fashioned broadcast reception and videotape rentals.
And in the super-heated Northern Virginia market, which presages the future in Virginia's other metro areas, competition has arrived. Cable operators are competing directly with companies free from franchise obligations, says Shelley. Their lower overhead gives them a big advantage in the market. Around the state, cable concessions amount to millions of dollars a year. There's no uniformity to the franchising deals, which reflect local economic conditions, civic priorities and the climate in which the deals were struck.