Letters

From the July 1999 issue

(Page 3 of 3)

Fourth, you are absolutely right that it was a masterstroke for the satellite people to build up millions of customers and then get challenged in court. That may be the only way to beat an incumbent industry that has the laws written in its favor. Cable TV had only a few thousand customers when the broadcast networks asked the Federal Communications Commission to crush it in the late '60s. The FCC agreed, and this country didn't get cable for about 15 years--probably the worst thing the FCC has ever done to consumers. A few years ago, the phone companies wanted the FCC to hobble the Internet, claiming that Internet usage (i.e., sociopathic teenagers watching dirty pictures) was clogging the phone network, preventing people from calling 911. (Do you want Granny to burn to death because she can't reach the fire department?) Sadly for the phone companies, by the time they began making the rounds at the FCC, the Internet had attracted millions of paying customers and had the support of the computer and software industries.

John Berresford
Rosslyn, VA
[e-mail]

I really enjoyed "I Want My Satellite TV." I own both a large C-band dish and a small digital satellite service system. I have been following the Satellite Home Viewers Act controversy for several years. I would much rather watch WGN off a dish than the broadcast signal that I receive from the landbased transmitter 70 or so miles away.

Of course, the smart guys in D.C. (with a little help from friends at the National Association of Broadcasters) think they know the best way for us to watch TV.

Randall Schultz
Racine, WI
[e-mail]

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