The Douglas Cable Advisory Committee currently has a non-exclusive Cable TV license with Charter Communications.  This means that if there were another cable provider who was interested in providing service to Douglas residents, we would be happy to negotiate a license with them as well.  The Douglas Cable Advisory Committee has always been openly vocal about allowing more competition into town in order to give the residents as many options as possible and try to avoid monopolization.  

Obstacles

While the Cable Advisory Committee has been open to competition, the situation has not yet arisen where another company has approached our community with offers or interest in investing in the infrastructure needed to provide service.  The initial investment would be large on their part, and thus it may not be an attractive prospect, considering how many potential subscribers there may be.  New equipment, cables, construction, etc become an expensive prospect and although it's not written off as a possibility, it is unlikely - at least for the time being.  

Verizon Fios

In particular, we are asked about Verizon Fios as an option.  The harsh truth here is that Verizon stopped plans for any infrastructure buildout to any community that did not already have a municipal franchise agreement prior to March 2010.  Douglas had not been on their initial expansion list, nor had we secured a franchise agreement.  Until such time that Verizon decides to open up to new communities, our hands are tied.  Read more about this here.