Return to Nicholas Johnson Home Page
Gayane Torossian: Two cities in Iowa are using their public-owned utilities systems to offer cable TV. But private cable companies say it's unfair and raises issues of censorship. They say the government-owned systems don't have to pay taxes or franchise fees. University of Iowa law professor Nicholas Johnson says federal law is more favorable to private cable companies, so it's not unfair that the cities put in their own communications systems.
Nicholas Johnson: What have these cable companies been doing? They've been stomping out competition at every turn. They want a monopoly position. They want no regulation of their rates. They want to be able to abuse customers. And then they don't want any competition from the city? Hey, forget it.
GT: The largest municipal cable system is in Cedar Falls [Iowa] where the city utility has recruited nearly half of the city's ten thousand households to sign up. Harlan also has a municipal cable system. The towns of Indianola, Hawarden and Grundy Center are considering it.
Gayane Torossian: Do you agree that it is unfair to the private cable companies because of the competition and because the cities don't have to pay any of those fees and taxes?
Nicholas Johnson: Well, I don't think it's unfair at all. It's kind of like the juvenile who's brought up before a court on a criminal charge of having murdered his father and mother and then wants to plead for mercy on the ground that he's an orphan. I mean, what have these cable companies been doing? They've been stomping out competition at every turn. They want a monopoly position. They want no regulation of their rates. They want to be able to abuse customers. And then they don't want any competition from the city? Hey, forget it. If they want to set up a marketplace and have some genuine competition, and offer us a half dozen different cable companies and some meaningful choice at reasonable prices, I might take a different position. But they won't do that. And I think that the cities as a matter of self defense -- after these cable companies go to Washington and get it all into federal law as a result of their campaign contributions -- that the least we can do is let the cities come out and do a little self defense here; put in some communications systems of their own, cut the cost by 50%, eliminate a lot of the cost of fire insurance in the city, deliver all kinds of service to the people who live there. Why on Earth not? And if there's any problem with that, let them set it up as a co-op instead of a city governmentally-owned system. But I don't see any problem with it at all.