No exclusive contracts in MDUs

[kenglish]

"Cable companies cannot have exclusive rights to provide service in apartment buildings that they wire, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday."

AP story here:
http://www.cedmagazine.com/News-exclusive-cable-rights-apartments-052609.aspx

 

[kenglish]

(....40 reads, and no comments..............)

OK, I'll start.

I wonder if this will affect the actual cabling within the buildings. If so, why would any Cable or sat company run drops to all units, just to let a competitor use their lines?

Would builders, then, be responsible for wiring their buildings (to a certain "spec")?

Or, should they just let everybody run lines wherever they want (total chaos, as seen in many installations)?

Should there be some sort of national specifications on MDU wiring, similar to the NEC's authority, so there is some standardization? I'm talking about a "building code" situation, similar to what they have in Singapore, where every building must meet the codes before occupancy:

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Policies and Regulation/20060523181717.aspx

 

[philosofy]

I had to deal with this at the last couple places I rented at. Luckily I was smart enough to ask for a south facing balcony and just used my Directv dish. Obviously this isnt a solution for everyone but if you point the right way there could be two other companies (Directv and Dish) that one might be able to use instead of the local cable monopoly.

 

[Garrett]

I had to deal with this at the last couple places I rented at. Luckily I was smart enough to ask for a south facing balcony and just used my Directv dish. Obviously this isnt a solution for everyone but if you point the right way there could be two other companies (Directv and Dish) that one might be able to use instead of the local cable monopoly.

Only if you have a balcony.
I lived in a complex that had a shared access porch, much like you have in a hotel, the complex refused to let me install Dish. They insisted that I could only use the cable company that wired the complex, and there was nothing I could do about it.

 

[philosofy]

You don't need a balcony to get a signal. I know of at least two people that simply opened their window, mounted a piece of plexiglas to protect against the elements and managed to get sat tv through it. Of course you still have to point south and I would only do this on at least a second story or higher apartment.