The turf battle for cable TV

It's not as hot an issue as immigration or Iraq, but our readers sure do take their cable TV options and rates seriously. Verizon's bid to gain a statewide franchise to provide TV service over its fiber-optic lines and the campaign by the cable television industry to block it is not a dull business story to our letter writers and phone callers.

This story strikes a chord because it's all about competition. Residents have bristled for years about their lack of options when it comes to cable TV service. They're stuck with the company that holds their town's franchise. (Oh, there's the satellite dish, but switching is too much work for many viewers.) People like choices and they see the Verizon initiative as providing something they've long wanted. And they fully appreciate what that competition should bring: lower rates.

If their opinions could be extrapolated as a representative sample, it's a slam-dunk for Verizon. The cable TV providers are perceived as members of a self-serving monopoly that keeps hiking their rates. It'll be interesting to see how they react should Verizon win permission to go everywhere.