I'm sure it's no picnic to have to deal with Time Warner. My cable company is Charter, and there is no joy there either. But let's cut straight to the quick:

After the year we have had, with deflation raging and with the consequent loss of jobs and other economic suffering all around, for anyone to demand a fee increase from anyone over anything is an OUTRAGE.

I have another complaint along similar lines. Why should there be any secret agreements between these companies, or any two corporations for that matter? Whatever the reasons why they might want to keep the agreements secret, the secrecy would seem to make public oversight difficult or impossible.

Granted, the entities involved are free to make some informal agreements among themselves. (They aren't free to make agreements to fix prices, hidden or otherwise!) But if they want to be able to use the legally constituted court system to enforce such agreements, then the contracts should be completely open and available to public inspection. (And not just after a lawsuit is filed: from the moment of signing.)

Aside: why should there be public oversight in this and similar cases? Imagine if your power were out for two days because of some secret spat between power companies!

Never mind the editors: what kind of imbecile spells the name wrong not once but three times when he includes a quotation which contains the correct spelling?