http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/oct/07/internet.telecoms

According to a study done by TeleGeology wholesale bandwidth prices have dropped by almost 40% year over year.  And yet Time Warner claims that "the rising cost of bandwidth" threatens to make them unprofitable unless they cap bandwidth usage and charge more for high bandwidth users.  Unless their year over year growth is more than 40% however, that just doesn't ring true.  And if it WAS true why not do it in their biggest markets, that use the most bandwidth, rather than smaller markets where there is no significant competition.

Apparently the PR flacks at Time Warner Cable think we can't read studies and reports and add numbers together.  The internet division of Time Warner is ALREADY PROFITABLE and during a time of economic slowdown - they grew 8%, and according to their own annual report:

"Time Warner Cable President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt said: "In 2008, Time Warner Cable continued to grow as many other industries contracted, and we generated impressive levels of free cash flow. While the much slower RGU growth late in the year demonstrated that our business is not immune to economic and competitive forces, we remain confident that our strong subscription relationships will enable us to weather these pressures better than many businesses." Britt added: "As we turn to the year ahead, we will focus even more on making our services easy to buy and use, and on delivering them at a great value. We will manage our spending – both operating expense and capital – to fit the economic realities as the year progresses. We’re focused on growing profitability and continuing to deliver healthy free cash flow."

Does that sound like a company "forced" to consider a new route to remain profitable? Or one using it's monopoly status to force consumers to spend more for services than they do in other markets.  You decide.