Think About It. Obscene. Fifty years ago, some friends and I owned a radio station in Kendallville, Indiana. I’m uncertain why the publisher of the local News-Sun thought anyone cared for my opinion. One fine day, half way up the left column in the initial sight-line as many of us scan, the headline read WEAVER SAYS CABLE TV OBSCENE. That was a little like our recent piece on MAN EATS CANDY. It was sort of true, but not an accurate representation of what the very bright George Witwer knew I had said and what I meant. In fact my comments were the result of the city council decision to give one company the exclusive rights to string their cable around the community to provide viewable television for the town.
“Rabbit ears” had been enough in big cities where there was an actual transmitter to send a signal more or less clearly for a few miles. Not so easy in smaller communities where you could put up a multi-pronged antenna on a tall metal pole and get some pretty good snow on your black and white monitor. That first round vacuum tube for viewing was preceded by the invention of an electronic scanning system making it possible to view. Both were invented by Philo Farnsworth, no doubt the inspiration for one of my nicknames of first son Jimmy who is now James with his own claims to fame. It looked like television, recently only a science fiction fantasy, might be here to stay. But it needed a better delivery system.
For the time cable seemed like the best way. But my nascent libertarian inclinations told me that underpaid small-town legislators might not be the right folks to select a single provider of service. And a single provider might not be overly concerned about my budget. Government has defended us (like it or not) from monopolies, but now signed off on imposing one. Since I was never very good at swearing, I had to at least think that was an obscenity.
Have you looked at your cable bill lately? We don’t use the relic telephone service our “bundle” provides, so we called Cable-X. (Name substituted to protect the guilty.) We were assured that ours was a great rate and removing the telephone would cause an increase. Now that is obscene.
Personally, it doesn’t bother me if one company commands the market because of their excellence. If their price goes too high or their product/service gets too low in quality, competition will soon adjust the marketplace. They will either improve or be gone. You surely can count the bodies if they haven’t been buried in uncaring memories. However if any government entity assigns the rights to a single purveyor, we have no recourse but the courts and new income for open-handed attorneys.
I hate to say “I told you so.”, but you have my permission to quote George, ’cause a monopoly on Cable TV service is Obscene. Think About It.
