Cable Dispute and Open Access

* The fight between Disney and Time Warner raises a more fundamental question than whether two huge corporate control freaks are right in a contractual dispute (“Are You Longing for Those Old Rabbit Ears?” Commentary, May 5). The two real questions are: If Microsoft is a monopoly because we freely choose to purchase its product, what do you call an institution that doesn’t give us a choice at all? And if I can choose my local and long-distance carrier from a wide selection that can provide service over a single wire installation in my home, why can’t I choose my cable carrier from those who provide that service over a single coaxial cable entry to my home?

The fact is that the cable industry is a group of monopolies. And any cost involved in wiring America has long since been repaid. It’s time to demand real competition in the cable industry, the same as in the phone industry. If the argument for assaulting Microsoft is that more competition brings more innovation and lower prices, why does that immutable law of economics cease to exist when applied to the cable industry?

TIM MESSER

Los Angeles

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* Re “Are More Blackouts Coming?” Opinion, May 7: I tend to agree with Mike Clough’s opinion that once people are familiar with what they can get they will not put up with attempts to restrict their access. The real attraction of the Internet is not that you can get pornography or bootleg copies of music but that, unless someone interferes, you can reach any site on Earth with an Internet connection. This is the future of broadband media if we will allow it.

No one today would put up with a phone system in which you could only reach subscribers who got their service from the same company. The media service of the future, whether it is cable, digital subscriber line, satellite or some new technology, will be the one that provides us access to the world, not just to its own service or its own content. The services that are left behind will be those that try to limit people’s access.

JIM MENTZER

Los Angeles