This is the first I've heard of this (I could go searching for a news article, but it's late and I'm too lazy/tired to look) but it sounds pretty interesting. But, I highly doubt it goes any further than just 2 lawmakers blowing hot air around.
First of all, the town/village would have to either buy the existing Time Warner infrastructure or build its own from scratch. That's not cheap. Not only are you buying miles and miles of cable, you also have to obtain permission to hang it on the utility poles. In many cases, that's a matter of paying rent to either the power company or the phone company. If the town thinks it's going to just "take" the infrastructure for free, the town should be ready to get sued by Time Warner, and whatever other utility companies would be involved.
The town/village (whichever one we're talking about) would also have to hire the technicians to build and maintain the system. Not just the headquarters, but also taking care of installing new customers, disconnecting old ones, and so forth. If you want people who know what they're doing, you'll probably have to hire them away from Time Warner, and that means paying them more than what TW pays them.
All in all, we're talking millions of dollars, and that's just for the initial rollout. Then there's the ongoing costs of keeping the entire system powered and maintained, and dealing with the various programming providers. The main reason the cable and satellite companies raise costs, is because the companies that put out the programming raise costs. The town or village would wind up in the same boat -- passing along higher programming fees to its own customers. Just because it's run by the government doesn't mean it will be better and cheaper.
How do you pay for the initial rollout? Monthly subscription fees won't raise enough revenue, even if every single household signed up for the service. You'd have to raise taxes and/or borrow money (which also means raising taxes). That's an unjust tax on people who don't use the system, especially if the municipal system winds up being inferior to the commercially-available systems. And then what happens when the town/village realizes "hey, this was a bad idea" five years down the road? Will TW eagerly come back, or will they tell Massena to take a flying leap?
There are ways the government can attack the problem of rising cable/satellite rates, but this isn't the right way to go about doing it. They need to approach it from a different angle. Anyone who is familiar with the way cable channels are bundled and priced should know exactly what I'm getting at. If you're not familiar, do a little Googling on the topic. Once you see who owns what channels, and how these package deals work, you'll see THAT is where the government needs to focus. "All-or-nothing" deals where carrying one or two popular channels means you also have to carry 10-15 of the parent company's crappier channels... those are what need to be done away with.
And let's also remember, cable isn't a NECESSITY. It's a luxury. Nobody HAS to have cable. In a remote place like Massena, cable may be necessary to see the nearest broadcast stations... but even then, basic cable is still very affordable. If Joe Q. Public wants to voluntarily subscribe to the deluxe digital package with HBO, Skinemax and Showtime, that's his decision. Nobody's making him pay $150 a month.
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