Kent,
Regarding your summation, this is different from the auto salesman requiring purchase of a spare tire in that there are numerous providers of autos, and thanks to our local authorities, only one provider of cable. (Incidentally, Yahoo! TV understands this, because it has only one company listed for my area in the menu for “Cable listings.”)
What I am trying to describe is that because the local authorities have not granted franchise to any other cable provider (is this a market-based setup?) in my area, the cable provider is free to offer consumers a Hobson’s choice.
