[ethbro]

Different topic, but on the legal side of the law you'll find that most exclusive franchise agreements by an ISP contain something to the effect of "we will pay the city/county $A, give them an ongoing amount of $B/yr (and are not allowed to break that out as a line item), and perform C, D, and E at no cost."

All these agreements are public. Go down to your local city hall or courthouse and ask for a copy of the franchise agreement.

Point being, part of the evil is Comcast. The other part is your elected local politicians...

[pseudalopex]

Franchise agreements can't be exclusive anymore. Officials at any level can still play favorites, of course.

[ethbro]

I stand corrected. I'd read ours recently, as I was curious. It was essentially an inherited document from the first cable company to build a network for the city.

It specifically noted it was non-exclusive, but I assumed that was the exception rather than the rule.