k9iua6

join:2004-05-23

Dubuque, IA 1 recommendation k9iua6 Member A slippery slope... Obviously ImOn is currently not planning on TV programming, and therefore the franchise requirement is not yet in effect for them, but this is a slippery slope. Especially if OTT programming should ever be considered as the offering of TV services. I can see the reason for Mediacom jumping the gun now to get their foot in the door, as court cases take time. But my reading is that Mediacom doesn't have a case, at least not for now, although promises by ImOn not to offer a service can't be counted on. I'd rather not see Mediacom be allowed to only operate under state-wide franchising, as it would certainly mean IC residents losing the good prices they currently have access to in their current franchise agreement, but I suspect these will disappear anyway the next time the agreement comes up for negotiation as Mediacom won't be as cooperative on prices the next time around.



battleop

join:2005-09-28

00000 battleop Member Re: A slippery slope... "although promises by ImOn not to offer a service can't be counted on."



EPB promised to only offer telephone service and then they only promised to offer telephone and internet service to business.



If Mediacom's argument is over ImOn not having a franchise agreement then why not just get a franchise agreement?

Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO 2 recommendations Skippy25 Member Re: A slippery slope... It doesn't matter. What does matter is what they currently do.



You can't go after a licensed engineer that says he won't do accounting work, just because he may become an accountant some day.



If they decide to start offering OTT then Mediacom can begin questioning the franchise requirements.



battleop

join:2005-09-28

00000 -1 recommendation battleop Member Re: A slippery slope... The gripe is that when EPB started to offer phone service they promised they wouldn't get into internet service if the local ISPs didn't object to it. They all agreed and then EPB turned around and did it anyways.



The mayor sat down and flat out lied to everyone attending his "discovery" meetings. They promised open access but went back on that as well.

Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO Skippy25 Member Re: A slippery slope... So the EPB did what the corporations do all the time. BooHoo!



battleop

join:2005-09-28

00000 -1 recommendation battleop Member Re: A slippery slope... We can always trust the government, right?

Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO Skippy25 Member Re: A slippery slope... No more and no less than the corporations.



battleop

join:2005-09-28

00000 -1 recommendation battleop Member Re: A slippery slope... I agree. The only difference is you can choose to not by from a corporation. Don "buy" from the government and go to jail.



BAINCH

MVM

join:2003-04-02

Blooming Grove, NY BAINCH to battleop

MVM to battleop

said by battleop: If Mediacom's argument is over ImOn not having a franchise agreement then why not just get a franchise agreement? That is an excellent question. An unlike some who want to claim otherwise, it DOES matter what you intend to do assuming you always intended to sell Cable TV and conspired with city employees to keep it a secret. You see, you are required to get a license BEFORE you begin building, not after. And had Imon done that, and done it using the state franchise option (which they expressed was their plan to city employees) then Mediacom would ALSO have the option to use the state franchise (under Iowa State law) and not the local city franchise which is far more costly. The city didn't want to give up that $$$, so they attempted to keep the truth a secret while Imon was building so they could keep their $$$ coming in from Mediacom.



litheveder

@liscocorp.com litheveder to battleop

Anon to battleop

Because Mediacom's franchise agreement in IC, if like the agreement MCC has in our town in Iowa requires any new cable TV entrant to provide TV services that MCC does -- that is, to provide TV to all residents in the town.



Nothing

@rr.com -1 recommendation Nothing Anon They do



»www.imon.net/residential/cable/ Offer cable tv



Inmis

@mchsi.com 3 recommendations Inmis Anon Re: They do Again you try to spin the story by leaving out pertinent fact.



Imon DOES NOT OFFER CABLE TV IN IOWA CITY AND DO NOT PLAN TO.



The fact it is offered in a completely different market is irrelevant. They don't have to offer tv if they don't want to. And if you bothered to understand the IC market, you would understand why they are not bothering to launch tv service in that particular market.



By your logic Verizon or ATT are offering FIOS/Uverse in every single market they are in instead of the myriad of different services they offer based on individual market needs/locations/conditions.



After all, if they offer something in one market they must offer the exact same in every market they are in or want to expand to....right?



Gotta give you credit for consistency though, too bad it's for failed spins.

Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO 3 recommendations Skippy25 Member Re: They do said by Inmis : Gotta give you credit for consistency though, too bad it's for failed spins. It is one of the few things he is actually good at.

your moderator at work hidden :



BAINCH

MVM

join:2003-04-02

Blooming Grove, NY BAINCH to Inmis

MVM to Inmis

said by Inmis : Imon DOES NOT OFFER CABLE TV IN IOWA CITY AND DO NOT PLAN TO. They do plan to, and have from the beginning. They said so in numerous emails with the city employees. The emails have now been made public.

your moderator at work hidden :



Broadband By

@google.com 1 recommendation Broadband By Anon Clarification ImOn is not a municipal. They are a privately held, for profit operator based in Cedar Rapids, 15 miles north of Iowa City. They are leading capacity on city-owned fiber, which is not at all uncommon.

gsm

join:2009-03-10

144-0052 1 recommendation gsm Member big isps I think the days of big isps are quickly coming to an end not only are more and more people dumping cable but a lot of cities are building there own fiber network and to the home to and they will bill you on your utility bill likes its done in just about every city in Asia I have lived in and how it should be done in the usa to internet should now be considered a utility



Eddy120876

join:2009-02-16

Bronx, NY 3 recommendations Eddy120876 Member Re: big isps So true friends and family in Korea and Japan look puzzle when I tell them I have copper for my internet/cable/landline and they almost faint when i show them my internet speeds and price.



Zenit

The system is the solution

Premium Member

join:2012-05-07

Purcellville, VA 4 recommendations Zenit Premium Member Re: big isps Japan is a good case of how to regulate your incumbent providers. NTT (the Japanese Ma Bell) was a monopolistic nightmare in the 1990's and was slow to deploy high speed data the country needed. They were big on ISDN but anything else (T-1, OC) was super expensive compared to the USA. At the dawn of the 2000's the Japanese government changed the regulations NTT operated under, requiring them to become a unbundled infrastructure provider and deploy high speed broadband infrastructure nationwide. Both copper and fiber infrastructure were unbundled with fixed rates of lease per month.



Rather than break up their nationwide monopoly, they made it work in the modern era. This is what we should have done with the Bell System - re-regulate it as a unbundled infrastructure provider that must work with competitors. Breakup with the same regulatory environment was foolish. Our 1996 Telecom act also was pretty weak - it allowed mass mergers and had very weak local loop unbundling rules.



Today NTT actually collaborates with other infrastructure providers to jointly build out expensive projects...its working. Japan has very low cost for high speed service.



The Japanese case is similar to what they did in the UK, but with some primary differences as well. The UK never got multiple last-mile competitors besides a few Cable MSO's. The Japanese market got cellular carriers and power companies entering the ring with their own last mile fiber.



Eddy120876

join:2009-02-16

Bronx, NY 4 recommendations Eddy120876 Member Re: big isps The problem as soon as anyone tries this the republican shills will vote against it.



KrK

Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy

Premium Member

join:2000-01-17

Tulsa, OK KrK to gsm

Premium Member to gsm

The days of big ISP's who want to run everything as they did in the past as a Monopoly ILEC or Cable company may be slowly coming to an end. There's still massive room for big ISP's who actually provide value and quality service.



BAINCH

MVM

join:2003-04-02

Blooming Grove, NY -5 recommendations BAINCH MVM At least get the story straight Come on Karl, shouldn't we try to raise the game a bit on this reporting? I realize there is an agenda here to promote the concept of municipal broadband but to start quoting newspaper articles written by the defendant seems a bit of a stretch right? You did research the corporate relationship between the Gazette and Imon right?



The problem is these cities want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to give away the store to get a second provider but don't want to give up the cash cow of local franchising agreements filled with lots of government bacon for PEG channels, local studio funding, permitting fees and much more from the incumbent. Your poor abused cities should follow their own laws and provide a level playing field.

DeltaDart1

join:2007-12-13

Cedar Rapids, IA 1 recommendation DeltaDart1 Member Re: At least get the story straight I live here in Cedar Rapids where we have both Mediacom and ImOn and in the 10 years we have lived here I have switched 4 times.



Jim Kirk

Premium Member

join:2005-12-09

49985 2 recommendations Jim Kirk to BAINCH

Premium Member to BAINCH

I take it you work for Mediacom

Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO 1 recommendation Skippy25 to BAINCH

Member to BAINCH

So what laws are they violating?



Is it the law that companies that provide TV channels follow the TV franchise laws or is it the law that companies that DON'T provide TV channels follow the TV franchise laws?



BAINCH

MVM

join:2003-04-02

Blooming Grove, NY -2 recommendations BAINCH MVM Re: At least get the story straight said by Skippy25: So what laws are they violating?



Is it the law that companies that provide TV channels follow the TV franchise laws or is it the law that companies that DON'T provide TV channels follow the TV franchise laws?



»www.press-citizen.com/st ··· 2396996/ IANAL but I think this article by a local newspaper NOT financially connected to Imon (or Mediacom for that matter) does a fairly good job of explaining it.

Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO 1 recommendation Skippy25 Member Re: At least get the story straight So they are violating no laws you are just butt hurt about it?



BAINCH

MVM

join:2003-04-02

Blooming Grove, NY -3 recommendations BAINCH MVM Re: At least get the story straight They are violating laws, as the article clearly states.

kinda pissed

join:2012-06-06

Newsoms, VA 1 recommendation kinda pissed Member At least get the story straight well lets hope iowa is smarter then tenn and tells medicom to shove it.

they're violating the sacred law that incumbants are entitled to exist in a competition free enviroment



BAINCH

MVM

join:2003-04-02

Blooming Grove, NY -1 recommendation BAINCH MVM Re: At least get the story straight said by kinda pissed: well lets hope iowa is smarter then tenn and tells medicom to shove it.

they're violating the sacred law that incumbants are entitled to exist in a competition free enviroment



I'm guessing if you and a neighbor had nearly identical houses on nearly identical lots, and the city showed up one day and decided your taxes would be twice as much as your neighbor, you'd be all up in arms. And you should be. The issue isn't Imon coming to town, it is that both companies should be treated the same. Not true. Mediacom and Imon have competed just up the road in Cedar Rapids for some 15 years, without any problems or lawsuits. The problem comes with one city decides to charge them differently.I'm guessing if you and a neighbor had nearly identical houses on nearly identical lots, and the city showed up one day and decided your taxes would be twice as much as your neighbor, you'd be all up in arms. And you should be. The issue isn't Imon coming to town, it is that both companies should be treated the same.



KrK

Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy

Premium Member

join:2000-01-17

Tulsa, OK 3 recommendations KrK to BAINCH

Premium Member to BAINCH

Re: At least get the story straight No, it doesn't. It reports Mediacom's claims they are violating the law.

KrK 2 recommendations KrK to BAINCH

Premium Member to BAINCH

quote: ImOn officials at that time said the company had not discussed offering cable TV services, and city staff confirmed that the company would need to obtain a franchise agreement before it could offer cable TV in Iowa City. ImOn also operates in Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha.



In an Oct. 15 email, Carroll wrote to Kim Sandberg, a program assistant in the city's Public Works Department, that ImOn "intends to offer Iowa City businesses telecommunication services" under its competitive local exchange carrier status, and "will be applying for a cable TV franchise using the State of Iowa franchising process sometime next year within six months of offering residential cable TV services." Or in other words, it explains that there is no problem and no violations. Yeah, it says this:Or in other words, it explains that there is no problem and no violations.

KrK 1 recommendation KrK to BAINCH

Premium Member to BAINCH

Nah. They actually want fast quality internet at normal prices. OH THE HORROR