quote:

---

Verizon has no plans to offer its FiOS service, a bundle of video and broadband, in North Carolina "for the foreseeable future," according to company spokesperson Robert Z. Elek.

---

quote:

---

the [Morganton] council decided to provide its own cable service, which it has done as a public utility since 1992.
...
At the most recent legislative committee meeting on HB 1587, industry lobbyist and attorney Wade Hargrove said, ... the city "drove out" the private cable provider, "said 'no' to free enterprise and went on to build and operate a monopoly, government-owned cable TV business.

After 13 years, Hargrove said, Morganton's cable business is $7 million in debt. Hargrove even suggested that electric bills were higher for Morganton residents as a result of the city's bad investment.

Assistant City Manager Ron George has a different story.
...
The city borrowed money to start the system, but eventually cable subscriptions paid off that debt, George says. "The system became positive not only in terms of cash flow, but it paid back the money that was spent on it."

A couple of years ago, the city borrowed another $7 million to upgrade the system and run fiber throughout the town, making Internet access available to all Morganton's residents, not just those in wealthy neighborhoods. The city is paying off that debt at $1 million per year. George says it is untrue that electric rates have increased to cover that debt—they're the same as they were in 1996.

---