Pure Monopolies
ECO 100 Survey of Contemporary Economic Issues
September 7, 2013

In any market a producer thrives on large margin of the local customer base. Each company preforms its due diligent and research to ensure there is no rock left unturned and no customer untouched but the advertising. According to our text a “pure monopoly exists when a single firm is the sole producer of a product for which there are no close substitutes (Bruce & McConnell, 2010)”. In my opinion this really doesn’t exist because you always have an option. The biggest monopoly in my area is cable television. Even though there is only one provider of services and it would seem there is a monopoly on their services, there are still other options via satellite television. That is why I would offer for your consideration that there is no real pure monopoly. Comcast has been around since 1963 when it was originally called “American Cable Systems” and was about 1200 subscribers strong. It has since grown in size to be about leading service provider in the industry in 2013. Not only has the company grown in size but it has grown in profits as well. The cost seems to constantly be going up. Ever changing rates and now they are even trying to lock you into contracts like cell phone companies or special introductory offers that the low cost only last for a while then the price will go up with out notice. Comcast came in and bought up all the smaller competition so that it was the only option in the area for the most part enabling the company to charge what ever they want for their services. It wasn’t until 1994 that another option became available to consumers and posed a possible threat to Comcast. Direct TV launched its services to offer satellite TV as an alternative to cable TV. Originally the concept was to offer if for those who we out in the rural areas and were unable to get cable television. But soon the fad grew until many of the household within the city wanted their own satellite as well. It became more of a status symbol than a necessity. Once that took hold of the market there was a slight shift in the marketing plan of the cable companies to offer rewards or incentives to persuade would be satellite customers to choose them instead of signing up with Direct TV. Just like in a pure monopoly, “where one firm controls total output (Bruce &