| Mack184 |
10-14-2012 02:16 PM |
According to FCC law cable companies are treated the same as a single interest utility such as the electric or gas company. Communities are forbidden by law to allow more than one entity to operate within their boundries. In most communities they must put the service availability up to bid, then hold a public hearing and then choose the service they will pick. Contract length can vary. So one cable company cannot intrude upon another's contractual territory.
Telephone & Satellite companies are under a separate set of FCC rules, so they are not forbidden to be in multiple places at the same time. So you can have an area such as TV where you can choose from Century Link, DishNetwork & ComCast.
Cable companies fought long & hard for many years to deny the telephone companies access to transmit TV signals and internet services. Ultimately they lost.
You can find the legal agreements with the cable company from your local government. You would have to find which government entity in TV controls the contracts. In some areas it's at the city clerk's office, in others it's in the county clerk's office. In TV it could be within the indivudual CDD offices. There you can find when the current agreement expires. You can also file service complaints with the FCC and the proper state organizations. Most states have something called the "Public Service Commission" or some similarly named office.
You can get a new cable server, but you must know when the agreements come up, and when the public hearings are. PLUS..The other cable company would have to WANT to come in and serve a particular area. If they don't want to do that, then there's nothing you can do about it.
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