They were allowed to have a monopoly because in order to provide the service, 30 years ago, they had to acquire millions of miles of rights-of-way and install the cable lines, the wires. It was a huge investment that made sense AT THE TIME. But they long ago recouped their huge investments and now have bought off the government entities that are prolonging their monopoly and encouraging them to continuously raise their rates so that the government’s tax/fees can go up, too. The reason this will end is that the technology has overtaken their land lines. Where I live, you can get cable from the cable company, or from the phone company (or from Direct TV). Competition will out. I recently negotiated a $35 cut in what I pay them.
Yes, we have the phone company option too but it’s not much better. I can’t do satellite because of the sheer number of oak trees that surround my house. We tried it and had no end of problems with it.
I wish my wife would just let me cancel it. If I want to watch something I can subscribe to Netflix or watch it on Hulu.