1. Yea its like that for all business that have monopolies.
2. Yes prices doubled from 1995 to 2005... But service quality, and offerings have more then doubled. From the digital upgrade, to adding broadband to phone to HD, and DVRS. The price increases have gone toe to toe with the service increases.
3. Ala Carte.. and you complain about price now? and as far as things like ESPNS outrageous rates I agree, and so do the cable companies, but they are defenseless to stop it. Thats why cable pricers also continue to climb. Heck even the local Free broadcast networks are starting to want to charge people for their channels. Thus cable prices go up.
4. More often then not the triple play will save you money.
5. This issue has been resolved, with the advant of "caps"
6. Welcome to the world of communications (and a 2inch Fiber cable is MASSIVE these are far and few between Most cables that size are either coax cable or twisted pair phone trunks not fiber(not that fiber cant be that big).)
7. Yes captain obvious that is why prices are going up. Heck Time Warner went from 3 to 5 to 7 without any price increases. (Other then the normal yearly increases). And yes programming costs are going up each year so that costs gets passed on. The cost of maintaining the network goes up (pay raises for employees, higher end equipment required etc etc) so of course that costs gets passed on. They are a business not a charity.
8. Mr. Lucas is the exception not the rule. You can find a Mr. Lucas in every industry. The fact that Cable Companies have been winning awards out the rear (JD Powers and others) for their service speaks volume from where they came from.
9. Ahh the information age... Guess what Google is doing the same thing as you visit this website. (Read SatGuys Privacy Policy)
10. As do all video providers..