No exclusive cable rights in apartments: court

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court says cable companies cannot have exclusive rights to provide service in apartment buildings that they wire.

The decision Tuesday from the Court of Appeals in Washington upholds a Federal Communications Commission ruling that banned the exclusive agreements as anticompetitive.

The deals involved a company exchanging a valuable service like wiring a multiunit building for cable in exchange for the exclusive right to provide service to all the residents.

The commission said cable operators could no longer enter into such deals and existing ones could not be enforced. Associations representing cable companies and apartment building owners sued. But the appeals court sided with the FCC.


Read more: http://www.suntimes.com/business/1591761,w-cable-rights-apartments-052609.article

[GodlessBiker]

1. Bravo! I had to live with these agreements when I lived in NYC.

[liberal N proud]

2. Yet, I only have one choice in the city in which we live

The city council will only allow one cable company and one phone company within the city limits.

We got past the phone company bullshit with Vonage, but that makes us a slave to the cable company for internet service.

[pnwmom]

6. I know -- it doesn't make any sense. n/t

[rcrush]

3. So does this take effect everywhere?

Can I talk to my apartment complex in texas and tell them to let me get satellite now?

[pnwmom]

7. Satellite isn't cable. There would be other issues involved. n/t

[ananda]

4. OK, my apt complex is wired by T-W..

.. and for the whole time I've lived here,
there has been no other provider.

Does this ruling mean that I will have a choice?

I'm going to ask the managers.

I HATE Time-Warner.. almost as much as ATT.

I want some choices.

[Bankhead_ATL]

5. does this applies to SAT's?????? I.E. Dish network.

[SemperEadem]

9. apples and oranges.

one has nothing to do with the other.

[Bankhead_ATL]

11. yeah but at the end of the day....Both of them are still fruit

[SemperEadem]

20. non sequitur

cable and satellite are two completely different entities... the operation of cable reception has nothing to do with the operation of satellite reception.

[DCKit]

21. My building is wired for both satellite and cable.

Except for the method of delivery to the building, everything else is identical - cables, switch boxes in the stairwells and DVRs in each apartment.

Add to that the fact that both Comcast and DirecTV are beating each other over the head on pricing and I see little, if any, difference - for anyone willing to pay for what they could be getting for free, that is.

[SemperEadem]

8. right on.

[mcjackson]

10. Ditch cable...

...its not worth it. i just switched to powered hd antenna.

[aquart]

18. Sigh. Outdoor antenna? I can't put up an outdoor antenna.

And my dtv converter box says it can't find a signal. Come June 12, am I the only one who isn't going to have TV?

[Fumesucker]

22. There are some pretty good indoor antennas available..

And the antenna makes the most difference in picking up signals.

This one seems to get very good reviews on Amazon.. With the money back guarantee it would be worth trying out, the price is only a month or two of cable anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/PowerQ-POWERHD-100-Portable-Digital-Antenna/dp/B001PLH60K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1243472394&sr=1-1

[JerseygirlCT]

12. Good.

Now let's get competition going all over.

[mwooldri]

13. If apartment owners had any sense...

... they'd wire them for over-the-air, satellite and cable. Four cables to each apartment outlet though... two for satellite, one for over-the-air and one for cable. Advantages are that apartment owners/renters can just "plug and play" with their choice of service without having to get special permission to put up a dish or antenna and work out any silly regulations about where to put said dish or antenna. Downside for apartment owners is that this does cost more to install.

[NickB79]

14. Screw cable. I just dropped Comcast for Frontier/Dish Network

For the same price I was paying for their bare-bones cable and internet package I get the same channels, faster Internet, and a home phone line through my Frontier and Dish bundle. I got them to give me free installation, the monthly price is locked in for 2 years so I don't have to worry about mysterious price hikes when I open my bills, and they threw in a free Dell Mini-9 netbook to boot! My wife was worried about having a dish on our patio, but so far it's worked out really well. It does take up some patio space, but not too much.

I loved calling Comcast to cancel my account. The guy I spoke to tried to warn me about how a dish might lose signals in bad weather. I just laughed and asking him if that was anything like the 5 TIMES our Comcast cable went out for the better part of a day in the past year? So far, we've had bad thunderstorms that haven't even given us a glitch in the picture.

[cascadiance]

16. Welcome to Free Speech TV and Link TV! EVERYONE here should get Dish Network!

Just the kind of programming that progressives need!

[Dr.Phool]

17. I've had a couple of very bad dealings with Dish's "customer service".

Twice, I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the obnoxious, arrogant asshole on the other end. And I loved FSTV and Link. I loved having Amy Goodman every morning with my coffee.

But, after dealing with those motherfuckers, I'd rather give my money to Murdoch! At least he carries Link. I'm ditching Verizon in September.

[Occulus]

19. Dish charged me once for a film nobody ordered

I won't do business with them.

[NickB79]

15. dupe