F...My Cable Company!

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

I think this is also a step in the direction of people ANYWHERE being able to get cable. If they start running it through phone lines that means high speed, cheap internet for anyone, anywhere.

Not exactly. In order for Verizon and the other phone companies to provide video and high-speed internet service, they have to go through the tremendously expensive process of building-out their fiber optic network to the houses they want to serve-- note that I said "the houses they want to serve". That means only the people in dense upper income areas will have those services available to them, and at a cost that justifies the expensive means of delivering those services. We're not talking about the existing twisted-pair copper phone line networks that were mandated by federal law to be accessible to virtually anyone, anywhere. We're talking about the high-volume fiber optic trunks that are capable of transmitting broadband services such as digital video and high-speed internet. It costs a TON of money to build-out these FIOS networks directly to the customers' homes, as Verizon is doing now-- and once again, that's only in select neighborhoods.

I think the politicians who are claiming this is a big money-saving coup for the consumer are either totally unaware of the costs involved in providing these services (which will inevitably be passed onto the consumer), and therefore genuinely believe they've done something good for their constituents, or were so overwhelmed by the money being thrown at them by Big Phone that they couldn't help but paint a rosy picture of this legislation.