[opendtv] Re: Spectrum Utility
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:48:53 -0800
Cable in San Diego had not a cent of government investment, and the Las
Vegas situation is rather unique, and I suspect not unconnected to the "dem
and dose" nature of investing in Las Vegas at the time. One must keep in
mind that until recently, the telephone company in Las Vegas was one of the
two mob-controlled U.S. telephone companies. Sure helped with the
bookmaking operations in Kansas City.
Development fees aren't government funding - it's private, but in some cases
mandated by government.
There might have been some Minnesota government in USSB, and Intelsat (who
did the initial application) is an international government-controlled
entity, but aside from that the only government money in DBS start ups was
the money the FCC spent on processing the applications.
John Willkie
_____
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of dan.grimes@xxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:37 AM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Spectrum Utility
There has been discussion for some time on how a utility might be developed
to provide digital media over a broad spectrum using the TV spectrum.
Recently there has been discussion with arguments on how it would be paid
for, even suggesting this would be a socialist undertaking.
But didn't the cable companies get started with government money? If I
remember right, the cable system installed in Las Vegas was paid for by tax
payers to get it initially installed. Then, Prime Cable (at the time) ran it
and paid Clark County a franchise fee. Now that the cable system is well
established, it is run privately (and pretty much a monopoly, I might add).
But I believe additions to the system are still funded by development fees
and not direct corporate outlays.
Did all the funding to start DBS come from private investments? For some
reason I thought there was government help there, too.
But perhaps I am mistaken.
Dan
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