Slashdot Mirror
Time Warner Wins Ohio-Wide Cable Franchise
An anonymous reader writes "Time Warner Cable has received a state-wide franchise agreement in Ohio. Time Warner's agreement covers 260 communities in 60 of Ohio's 88 counties, for 10 years. AT&T was the first to earn a state-wide franchise contract, after a law was passed in September that allowed operators to negotiate a single state-wide agreement. In the past operators negotiated franchise agreements at the local level."
The Bush Administration has made a habit of bringing people into regulation straight from the field they are to regulate. The justification for this has always been that who better knows the field than those who have had so much experience in it, both working for and lobbying for. This trend has been trickling down to the more local levels of government as well. Unless people start to wake up and realize what has been going on the past several years (and i don't see any evidence that they will) they will continue to have their baser instincts pacified while getting completely cowed and taken advantage of. I don't have any hope whatsoever that a change of parties will ameliorate this trend. My point is, so much for the overseeing of utilities by commissions on behalf of the public.