said by OwlSaver:In the 50s and 60s, AT&T was vertically integrated just like the providers are today. The sold you the wires, the service, and the phone set. The innovation really came when that was separated and you could by service (well at least long distance) from any provider and phone equipment from any seller. So, I think we have vertical integration today and have little innovation and would get more if we separated the tiers.
Hmm, I see your point but I think what I'm saying is that the ISP industry today is like the phone industry is today... you choose your own equipment (PC or phone), you choose your provider (choice of ISP or choice of long distance provider), and you go at it. The OP was saying the government should set up one company to own the pipes. That struck me as going back to the old days of AT&T. Not a perfect analogy but you see my point?
As an example, I think that Comcast buying NBC will reduce choice and innovation, not spur it on. Also, as it stands today Internet only TV service is really limited. This is because Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T do not want it to impact their business. If they could not offer TV service, I think innovation would flourish.
I think that's not the business reason for limited Internet TV service. The real drivers are not the cable systems, but the content providers (studios and producers). They are going to try to maximize their revenue. Right now Cable/Satellite have the vast majority of the viewers vs. Internet TV, therefore they will get much more advertising dollars, therefore they can offer much more to the content providers for their shows. Internet TV is seen as an attractive add-on to the base TV revenue, much like DVDs and syndication are, but it's not nearly as big as those are yet. So, Internet TV is sucking hind tit as the saying goes, therefore you see limited offerings and the premium stuff goes to cable/satellite. Whether this will change, and how fast, is a big question.
Regarding Comcast buying NBC Universal, this is not anything to worry about. In-house production for the outlets has been around for a long time (see broadcast TV), and hasn't really hurt innovation, lots of independent producers still sell their stuff in interesting ways. It's all about getting mindshare and viewer interest going, which will pump ratings. If Comcast doesn't syndicate NBC's stuff they are making a stupid business decision. Why limit your revenue and ROI from your in-house production, just so that people might sign up for Comcast over, say, DirecTV?