The US Court of Appeals spanked the FCC last year for making the same error as you're making here, ignoring the totality of the marketplace and blinding yourself to the competition that exists. ... they're not monopolies, which is why the government doesn't break them up or regulate their advanced services. As a matter of fact, the government passed a law in 1992, that has now stood for 18 years, that prohibits regulation of rates for expanded basic and higher -- precisely because of the fact that you're trying to deny, that there is competition, that there is no monopoly. This isn't an oversight. It isn't a mistake. It is a deliberate determination of our society -- one that perhaps conflicts with your own personal preference.
Just a follow-up underscoring this issue we discussed a few months back.
As I mentioned back then, as a matter of law, there is effective competition for
advanced subscription television services throughout the United States, but with regard to
basic service the criteria are more stringent, probably because the FCC, in its efforts to coddle satellite service providers, have waived the requirements to provide basic service, excusing DirecTV and Dish Network from serving this essential service to its customers who need it.
The competition for basic service, therefore, must be considered on a town-by-town basis. A number of towns in my local area have reached the more stringent threshold applicable to essential services, and therefore in those town even basic service rates are unregulated.
Typically the declaration of effective competition for basic service is done one town at a time (since the satellite service providers are not factored into the consideration, due to the waivers they have), but what was notable this week is that the FCC issued an order applicable to a large number of towns, all at once.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-10-848A1.pdf
So, again, the salient points here are that there is effective competition for advanced service (i.e., "expanded basic cable")
nationwide, and that's been the case for almost twenty years, but
now, in more and more towns, there is even effective competition for the essential "basic" service, and regulation of even that level of service is being lifted.