As we all know, Google Fiber is currently stringing up cables in Kansas City, and Kansas City is happily enjoying connections one hundred times faster than the average American gets. Needless to say, Time Warner and AT&T are very sad that somebody is competing with them — not to mention blowing their service out of the water — since this is something that they’ve never had to face before.
So, are they competing by lifting data caps, perhaps, or spending some of their sweet political ad money or profits on upgrading their systems to demonstrate to their customers why their service is still a value? HAHAHAHA. Um, no.
What, you expect them to compete in the free market? No, instead they’re whining that Kansas City should give them the same tax breaks that it granted Google.
Quoth the Wall Street Journal:
Now, Time Warner Cable Inc. and AT&T Inc., the incumbent Internet and TV providers in town, are angling to get the same deal.
Among the sweeteners granted Google by both cities are free office space and free power for Google’s equipment, according to the agreement on file with the cities. The company also gets the use of all the cities’ “assets and infrastructure”
Time Warner and AT&T are arguing that it’s only fair that they get the same assets. Because cable is at this enormous disadvantage otherwise. Just to review, these are two companies who paid, out of their own pockets, to wire this area and in return, get a virtually exclusive monopoly in the area that has lasted for decades.
So, really, if we want to talk about “fair”, maybe you should let other companies compete against you in your markets? You know, the way it’s supposed to work?