> and the reason it's expensive to be a provider is...government regulations.
If by government regulations you mean "the fact that running cable means acquiring access rights across large numbers of privately held properties, and government protection of property rights makes you have to negotiate with each of them for the right to access unless you can piggy back on someone else that already has an easement without exceeding the scope of the existing easement", then, sure, its about government regulations.
But its the kind of government regulations that even the people who complain about government regulations generally support (often, support most emphatically).
There needs to be some regulation to make that feasible, no doubt. But why does that function justify forcing cable companies to run cable to areas that aren't economically justifiable? Or to put it a slightly different way: while the public is entitled to make equal access a priority, it can't complain about providers not wanting to enter the market or not wanting to invest more private money in regulated service. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
You left out a key qualifier: "running cable to every household means acquiring access rights..." The post I responded to specifically mentioned the FCC regulations requiring equal access to all households as the driver of the high cost of being a provider. Without the equal access regulations, it would be a lot easier for smaller providers to compete. (And it would be even easier if state and local governments didn't give sweetheart deals to large providers.)
If by government regulations you mean "the fact that running cable means acquiring access rights across large numbers of privately held properties, and government protection of property rights makes you have to negotiate with each of them for the right to access unless you can piggy back on someone else that already has an easement without exceeding the scope of the existing easement", then, sure, its about government regulations.
But its the kind of government regulations that even the people who complain about government regulations generally support (often, support most emphatically).