Thoughts on Cablevision-FOX

It's the private contract dispute that's made national media headlines - Cablevision and FOX can't agree on a price, so Cablevision isn't carrying FOX in New York and New Jersey. It's kinda like when you go to a restaurant, ask to see the menu, see they're twice as expensive as the place down the street, and go there instead. It's the American way - a free market where goods and services are traded.

But, oh, no, can't let the protected monopoly that is Little League baseball hear that. Little League and mayors are calling it "un-american." Of course, what it comes down to is these people have no clue what America is and isn't. One thing it is - it *is* American to have a free market for goods and services. It is *not* American for the government to get involved in private contractual disputes.

The Washington Post prefers to throw around terms like deprive and rob. You are deprived when you do not have food, water, and shelter to meet your physical needs. You are robbed when people with guns come in and take your jewelry. You are not deprived or robbed when the cable TV company you subscribe to elects not to pay twice as much as they were paying to renew their contract with a programming provider. You are free to leave your cable TV company if you'd prefer to subscribe to a competing service that has chosen to pay those rates. It's a free market.

Cablevision is buying Bresnan, which is our local TV company here in Montana. I couldn't be happier. Cablevision already is well known for having some of the best Internet service in the industry. Now they're showing they have a backbone to fight rate hikes too. It couldn't get any better than this for the  customer. There are lots of competing services if the video services you want aren't on Cablevision. There's also always DirecTV... they're great! But, may I suggest a Netflix-ready Blu-ray player? Or perhaps the new, sub-$100, Apple TV is more your thing? There's the Slingbox if you have another house that does receive the broadcasts. Or, and here's the best one of all - a good old fashioned ANTENNA for over the air broadcasts, totally free, as always (yup, most of the programming FOX wants nearly $5 a month a subscriber from Cablevision for they're GIVING AWAY over the air for free! Higher quality too...) Whatever you choose those, choose a free-market solution; not demanding government interference in private contracts - the consumer always loses in those situations!