The bill could erode cable companies' monopoly franchises.

Mr. Cooper said Cablevision was raising its rates simply because it has a "monopoly franchise."

If local governments stopped awarding monopoly franchises, and allowed any company that wanted to offer service to do so, it might turn out that cable TV is actually a competitive business.

Such reactions are bad news for cable operators like TCI, which count on big profit margins from their monopoly franchises in most communities to service their heavy debts and fuel expansion.

When New York City went into the bookmaking business in 1971, its officials envisioned that their monopoly franchise would ultimately yield annual profits of $200 million.

Verizon however operates in a much more competitive setting and its monopoly franchises (i.e. landline phone in sections of the US) are under tight pro-consumer regulation by the relevant government authorities.

Traditional settings for company towns were where extractive industries - coal, metal mines, lumber - had established a monopoly franchise.

Moreover, there are no monopoly franchises, and retailers cannot charge more for a product than it charges at its shops elsewhere.

The company was under a statutory obligation to compile a phone directory of all their customers free of charge as a condition of their monopoly franchise.

Once content to tend their regulated monopoly franchises, utilities and railroads are suddenly conducting their own raucous hostile battles in the wake of deregulation and consolidation.