Apple Bud

That's fantastic news. The days of market monopolies (yes, many markets today are served by only one provider) are over. Why cable operators have had preferential treatment for years is beyond me, but suspect it has everything to do with campaign contributions.

jfc1138 said:

Apple Bud said:

That's fantastic news. The days of market monopolies (yes, many markets today are served by only one provider) are over. Why cable operators have had preferential treatment for years is beyond me, but suspect it has everything to do with campaign contributions.

Municipalities, like the United States before it with railroads, was too cheap to build out the cable infrastructure itself: so it left that to "the private sector" and since the cablers paid for the cables they had exclusive rights to their use in return for their expenditure in buying and installing them.

No magic cable fairy just made every household in a community be connected. That cost money, a LOT of money.

Comcast profit for 2015: $52 billion dollars. $52,000,000,000. In the 1990's when most of today's cable was laid, the cost was about 19 b billion for all companies. 

It's easy to understand why cable companies want to control public opinion. Using words like "cable fairy" doesn't convince me that the cable companies aren't making obscene profits. Try to come up with some substantial proof that the cable companies are suffering and I'll take it all back. They are nearly monopolies, powerful, and with their control on media, have undue influence in public option about this matter. It's time that a federal agency stood up for the public good and I applaud their action.

...or maybe Apple does not want to launch a budget phone with their premier iPhone 7 line in the fall?

I hardly use iTunes anymore. The additional complexity and navigation through all the crap has turned me off. I wonder if anybody else think the same?