Bright House's Brass Balls

Last night while watching late night re-runs of MSNBC's Lock-up series I saw a commericial for Bright House cable. Now, I've seen this commercial before but lastnight is when it really sunk in. The commericial was targeted to business owners persuading them to advertise with Bright House cable. The gist of the ad is the Cable can provider advertisers with the tools to reach the market groups they want to reach, like "young adults", "house wives", "seniors". "Well duh!" you say...

What erked me (probably more because I was tired and already cranky from a long night at work) was this: Most cable proiders charge at least $50/month for basic cable service ( a service which most americans like my self feel obligated to have, for better or for worse) and they charge usually several houndreds of dollars if not thousands for a few second of ad time to their advertisers, and it seems like everytime you turn around you hear the cable companies threatening to raise their residential rates.

How much money do these people want from us? Especially when they make the bulk of their money funneling advertisement into our livingrooms?

(Lucky for me cable is included in my rent)