Jon, I think Paul’s got the better argument here. It is against federal law to write an exclusive cable franchise agreement. There is no “government protected monopoly.” While I would go further, and argue that there is no need for a municipality to issue a franchise at all, the city/county/state is not preventing competition in the multi-channel marketplace.
It seems that you want a certain product. That product is not available in the marketplace by itself. In order to purchase it, the seller obliges you to buy other goods. How is this different than the auto salesman who requires me to buy a spare tire?
