All of EBTC's 80 VisionNet customers stream IPTV from Shellsburg, IA. Those people are using at least 3 Mbps of bandwidth constantly while watching TV. If all 80 people are watching TV during primetime they are likely using more bandwidth than all of EBTC'S internet customers combined. EBTC's DSL and line of sight broadband customers are subsidizing the cost of EBTC'S IPTV service. An argument can be made that is it anticompetitive that EBTC gives preferential treatment to their IPTV steam over competitors like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Google. EBTC confirms that up until three days ago that they were giving their IPTV service a higher priority on their network. According to Neilson the average person watched 151 hours a tv per month in late 2008. A person watching 151 hours of tv per month is using 226.5 GB of data (1.5 GB per hour). Using EBTC's current internet rates that TV user is using $931.50 worth of data per month. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/24/us.video.nielsen/

EBTC's profit margins on internet service were above 40% in 2012. See the document below. They have also built out line of sight wireless internet service, so they will not need to maintain those rural DSL cabinets in the future. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1MxEnYSkSD_V2ZjdEdfeFNTMnM They could easily serve all of their existing customers using wireless if they chose too. Prairie iNet is a company that uses similar wireless technology. They can serve 250 customers per tower. EBTC currently has 3 wireless line of sight towers. Prairie iNet offers speeds of up to 20 Mbps with unlimited usage for $70 per month. They offer service in a smaller town 8 miles south of EBTC. http://www.prairieinet.net/residential/pricing-plans/