The hard part is acting surprised.
There’s a 50yr plus history of cable companies bribing politicians to secure exclusive territories, starting in the big metro areas in the 1960s.
In NYC, the politicians kept that gravy train chuggin' along until the very late 80s, early 90s. Many politicians ended up with executive positions in cable companies before they started merging. I live in rural WV now and folks here were amazed to find out that they had cable long before it was available to me in Queens, NY.