The FCC is planning new net neutrality rules. And they could enshrine pay-for-play. - The Washington Post

Sun Apr 27 20:21:55 UTC 2014

On Apr 26, 2014, at 4:08 PM, Larry Sheldon <LarrySheldon at cox.net> wrote:

> On 4/26/2014 3:01 PM, Owen DeLong wrote:
>> On Apr 24, 2014, at 8:38 PM, Larry Sheldon <LarrySheldon at cox.net>
>> wrote:
> 
>>> Monopolies can not persist without regulation.
>> 
>> This is absolutely false. Regulating monopolies CAN protect
>> monopolies, but that’s not always the outcome.
>> 
>> Monopolies absolutely can persist without regulation. Except in the
>> most highly dense population areas, there is not a sufficient market
>> to support the deployment of more than one copy of a given media type
>> to that population. As a result, there is, in most places, a natural
>> monopoly in each media type, whether that’s electrical, water, cable,
>> twisted pair, fiber, etc.
> 
> Sounds like the market at work, not monopoly power......I've never heard the term "monopoly" used where the market contains all the players that want to play.

It doesn’t. What it contains is all the players that can afford to play.

When the number of players that can afford to play==1 that’s pretty much the definition of monopoly.

If you want to try and pervert the term to meet your previous (bizarre) claims, then I’m sure you can do enough dancing around the dictionary to eventually arrive at your chosen destination.

However, Patrick and I are more concerned with the actual outcome for consumers (including ourselves) than with the sophistry required to engage in the discussion you appear to want to have.

Owen