"The president of Verizon Pennsylvania Wednesday said proposed cable-choice legislation in Harrisburg would open up competition and streamline the cable franchise process, resulting in lower rates and better service.

"This franchise process was put into place decades ago and at that time cable companies were given a franchise in exchange for an effective monopoly -- there was no competition," said Verizon Pennsylvania President William B. Petersen. " z-wire.

Seriously, why is this so complicated? Couldn't we just let this legislation pass and free up some time and money to allow, perhaps...Better Service?

A brief detour from my usual rants: In light of the fact that current conflict in the Middle East has not gotten any better, I thought it would be appropriate to share that my thoughts are with those who are suffering over there, and I offer my condolences to those who have lost loved ones and friends. I truly hope that justice is served quickly and that the innocent will be able to return to some sense of normalcy.

In Montgomery County, MD they have resisted competition in the video market so brutally, Verizon is actually suing the county. But in Bowie, MD the welcome a new entrant into the market. The folks at HD Beat are happy:

Yet again most of the counties high-def lovers are 'bout to get jealous when we tell them that Verizon's fiber-optic TV service has moved into another community. The town of Bowie, Maryland just brook a bottle of bubbly on the side of Verizon's FiOS service as it launched this last week. This is of course the same service that brings your TV and Internet service to your home via fiber optics instead of copper. That whole area seems to be laden with FiOS as the surrounding cities already have the service.