marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to calvoiper
Re: You want others to pay for your speech--why?
said by calvoiper  :I particularly don't think that subscribers should be forced to underwrite the dissemination of ideas with which they may not agree. Public access may be great in some communities--in which case it should be ranked in budget priorities along with police, fire, and street repair. In those terms, we'll see if it merits public funding. Public access is not funded by the government. It is funded by cable subscribers through pass through fees, but those funds are paid directly from the cable company to a non-governmental public access provider.
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ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| said by marigolds :Public access is not funded by the government. It is funded by cable subscribers through pass through fees, but those funds are paid directly from the cable company to a non-governmental public access provider. As I've explained in greater detail below, it's a government forced expenditure of money, the cost of which is passed on to cable consumers. It's a hidden tax, and it's all the more pernicious because it allows the political agenda of "public access" to hide the fact that it's funded with what should be tax revenue.
If you gave cable consumers the choice of not paying for public access, they wouldn't, and it would die. If you made the cable companies pay local government what they pay for "public access", the local governments would have the option to spend it on something more worthwhile, and "public access" would have to JUSTIFY ITS EXISTENCE, INSTEAD OF JUST SLURPING AWAY AT A POLITICALLY CORRECT SLUSH FUND. Either way, cable consumers and the public would be ahead.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| said by calvoiper :If you gave cable consumers the choice of not paying for public access, they wouldn't, and it would die. You do have that choice. That is how pass through fees work.
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ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://whip.isca.uiowa.edu
Member: American Association of Geographers, American Geophysical Union, American Water Resources Association |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| said by marigolds :You do have that choice. That is how pass through fees work. No, I don't. It's a mandatory fee that I have to pay if I want cable--it's not an option that I can decline to pay. Maybe it is in Corvallis, but not here and not most places.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| said by calvoiper :No, I don't. It's a mandatory fee that I have to pay if I want cable--it's not an option that I can decline to pay. There are plenty of hoops to jump through, but in most cases you can get out of paying it. Sometimes you have to pay it but can get it refunded. That is true in nearly every city.
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ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://whip.isca.uiowa.edu
Member: American Association of Geographers, American Geophysical Union, American Water Resources Association |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | Not in mine. Anybody else out there, in anyplace besides Corvallis, able to avoid payment of their "public access" fee?
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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