34 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981Copyright © 2015 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.The Telecom Digest for Oct 15, 2015
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| You can't put tits and ass on the marquee!…Why not?…Because it's dirty and vulgar, that's why not!… Titties are dirty and vulgar?…Okay, we'll compromise. How about Latin? Gluteus maximus, pectoralis majors nightly…That's alright, that's clean, class with ass, I'll buy it…Clean to you, schmuck, but dirty to the Latins! |
| Lenny Bruce |
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| Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2015 01:46:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: The Cellphone Imperative: if I can't text, I'm moving Message-ID: <df0edb8b-1a17-4878-9794-65ce07e4edae@googlegroups.com> On Sunday, October 11, 2015 at 11:20:18 AM UTC-5, tlvp wrote: > On Sat, 10 Oct 2015 16:24:41 -0400, Telecom Digest Moderator wrote: > > > Cable companies had to pay to have apartments wired for cable TV > > (which later morphed into Internet and phone service), and the Baby > > Bells used to have entire departments dedicated to keeping track of > > new high-rise buildings under construction, so that Ma Bell could go > > in and install wire while the walls were still open. > > > > What changed? > > Perhaps it's that [t]he Cable and Phone companies learned that it > was both far less speculative and far more profitable to overcharge > individual tenants for post-construction installations :-) . > > Cheers, -- tlvp That's an incredible statement. Is it never "profitable" the postwire a building; indeed it's not even possible to break even. In my 25+ years in the cable TV industry I encountered this issue hundreds of times. We evaluated every job on projected ROI assuming that the postwire installation cost was a capital investment to be recovered through future revenue. Furthermore, except in exceptional circumstances, we would not wire individual units: we would undertake an installation job only if we could wire the entire building at once and only if the building owner agreed to an easement granting us the right to "enter and occupy" the building (enter the building for the purpose of installation and maintenance, and to occupy space in the building for equipment and wiring). The Telecom Digest Moderator noted: > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > It's always cheaper to prewire. Not only is in a LOT less > labor cost, but the service starts earning money almost > immediately after occupancy, plus any competition which isn't > available when the new apartment/condo owner makes a buying > decision loses out. > > Deliver or die: either you're ready when they make the call, > or you lose. > > Bill Horne > Moderator Absolutely. We made every effort to prewire every new residential building during construction. We usually tried to prewire commercial buildings at least to the extent of getting signal as far as equipment rooms. Nevertheless cable TV companies often had to postwire existing buildings. Back in the '70s and '80s, when cable TV industry was growing rapidly, tenants everywhere suddenly wanted cable. The industry postwired thousands of older buildings. I well remember those years. I spent hundreds of hours inspecting older buildings, meeting with building owners, negotiating easements, calculating budgets, dealing with contractors, and inspecting their work. But we would never wire any building without a signed easement. This was sometimes a hassle. Some building owners simply refused to sign (at least until their tenants started screaming). Even cooperative owners often wanted detailed agreements on technical and cosmetic issues (be careful boring under the privet hedge; don't let Mrs. Jones' cat out). Buildings owned by governments were a nightmare (the paperwork is sitting in somebody's inbox, or the city attorney has to review it, or the mayor wants TV in her office, or the City Council has to have a public hearing, or...). I even encountered one apartment building owner who wanted "a deal" (the phone company paid him a commission for the payphone in the lobby, so we should pay ... forget it buddy). And of course they all wanted free cable (including HBO, Showtime, etc.) for themselves. Neal McLain Retired Cable Guy (TCI, Niall, Comcast, Warner) |
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