Huge cable and internet phone provider faces Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The company has skipped a key payment due to a troubling government investigation.
It's not a great time to be a cable company in a broad sense.
For decades, cable had sort of two monopolies. First, it was the only real option if you wanted an expanded universe of channels.
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Yes, you could get an old-school giant satellite dish and pick up feeds from other countries, but unless you spoke multiple languages, that wasn't a viable alternative.
In addition, when most major cable companies expanded, they had to spend millions to wire each market. In exchange for doing that, they asked for (and generally received) exclusivity.
At first, they agreed to some pricing caps, but by the 2000s, those started going away. Cable prices were high because people had no choices and, to paraphrase the 1980s, "wanted their MTV."
Now, however, the internet has made cable less needed and less exclusive.
