Me friend and I are interested in starting a custom cable ( TV ) company, just simple in home custom installs. Does anyone know if this is possible? Are there laws or rules in place by the cable companies that will not allow this. Is there a way to do it with them but not work for them on their appts. Maybe give them a percent, or some legal papers so they don't think the customer is stealing form them, even though we all know it is out ther everywhere.
You are not permitted to go beyond the ground block (also known as the demarcation point). The cable company "owns" the drop going to the house. Other than that, knock yourself out. Just keep in mind that you become responsible for the inside wiring, and if it is not up to cable company standards, they can and will disconnect it (or at least blame you for any and all problems the customer may have).
If you want to become a contractor for the cable company, that's a different story. You'll need lots of insurance, specific tools, and a high tolerance for being treated like scum.
Do you mean from the ground block up to pole or down to tap... I'm assuming..? you can work from the ground block inward right without any problems?? Also, do you know if there is something differnt you need to know when working on Boats or Yachts' ? I did a small job on a Yacht, that was behind the owners house, ( just a relocate ) but I not up on what would be needed to work on custom jobs on Yachts....any Info?
Thanks again for your input; and I was thinking of doing something with a lawyer, that would state and be signed by the customer that they must contact the local cable company to activate this custom line. This would hopefully free me from any problems with the Carries.
If they supply the parts and labor for the in-house wiring, they can probably legally retrieve it and/or prevent you from using it for satellite reception if you should close your account with them. Here in L.A., our condo HOA chose to hire our own cablers to put in the cable when we heard how the cable company's yahoos were going to route the cables. 15 years later, when dbs satellite was introduced, the cable company wanted us to sign a 20-year exclusive use agreement in return for a cheap bulk account. But, we reasoned that no such "gift" is really free, and we turned them down. We eventually found out that they had realized that *we* owned our cabling and they wanted to block us from using it for satellite. Then, 5 yrs later, we added a satellite system - that uses the same cabling. We wouldn't have been able to do that if the cable company had installed our cabling.
I doubt that very much - as far as I'm concerned that's donated cabling if they didn't charge you for it and if they charged you for it, then it's obviously yours. They are entitled to get their boxes (set top, modem, etc) back, but that's it.
What's the legal difference between the "boxes" and the cabling? I recently stopped the installation for a cable TV/Internet account because the idiot installer had broken into our condo association's OTA cabling system to facilitate a room-to-room cable extension. His supervisor told him to rip out all the cabling that he had put in and to vacate the premises. Eventually, his company made the supervisor come out and repair the damage to our OTA cabling, but it wasn't until Time Warner had established that *we* owned all of our cabling. Apparently, the legal department has advised Time Warner that what cables they put in they are free to break into and rip out.
Where are you planning on getting the content you want to distribute. There are ways that you can obtain a license from a satellite provider to offer content tou your future subs.
I would like to get back to just my question, Does anyone really know the laws or rules of installing, from the ground block, " inward ?" Say, a home owner wanted a TV in her Kitchen? or like my brother in his Closet....? Just running a simple customer more professional look.
Again, thank you for any feed back..
Dominic added.... I think if I was to get the customer to sign, that they will contact the local provider to activate, then I think this would clear all problem of my company stealing their signal... right?
Not I. My modem is my own. And when I went in to Time Warner to get one of their modems, they handed me a modem without any charge, and no charge for the modem appeared on my bill. Use of their modem is part of my subscription, and they could just as well argue that the use of their cabling (if they had put it in) was also part of my subscription.
Not gonna happen. Did you sign a receipt when they installed your wiring ? No, of course not. They can only take back boxes that they have provided for you. There's no way they would try to force their way into your home and remove wiring. Not to mention that they would want to leave it there in case you moved.
A customer is allowed to provide their own inside cabling. They can do it themselves, or hire a contractor to do it.
However, most cable companies will install inside cabling as part of their regular installation charge. Perhaps it'll be a flat rate. Perhaps it'll be a per-outlet rate. But generally it's going to cost less to just let the cable company handle it than it would be to hire their own contractor.
Also, if there is a problem, and the cable company finds it to be a result of improper cabling, at that time they may charge an hourly rate to re-do it to their specifications. And if they find that improper cabling in someone's house is causing a problem for someone else, they can simply disconnect the problem house.
Also, when the cable company does the installation themselves, if there's a problem with the signal at the drop, they can fix that problem. You wouldn't be able to offer that service. This could also result in the customer essentially double-paying.
The only benefit to the customer is that (presumably) you will listen to their special requests. For example, the cable company may only be willing to run a cable along the outside of a baseboard, but the customer may want it fished through the wall. (Of course if you're charging extra for extra work, the customer may decide that it isn't worth it!)
Remember you'll need a contractor's license in any state. In many places you'll need a local business license, too. (Perhaps multiple business licenses if you work in multiple municipalities.) You may also need to have performance bonding. You'll need insurance. You'll have to file all the right paperwork for licenses and taxes, and if you hire someone to help you, you'll need to comply with all the payroll laws, workers comp laws, unemployment insurance, etc.
And then there's the question of how will you find your customers? Will there be enough customers willing to pay what you need to charge to make a profit?
A related idea would be instead of installing cable TV cabling, install home theaters. While most stores selling home theater components have already hooked-up with a contractor(s), and then market those services to people buying home theaters, your particular local market may still have room for one more contractor. (My guess would be that for most of these contractors, residential jobs are their least profitable jobs, and their most profitable jobs are commercial communications installations, and they get those jobs because of significant networking over many years, and many adaptations of their business as times have changed over the years.)
Starting any business can be a very big undertaking. Operating the business itself may prove to be more work than the actual service you're reselling. And yes, discovering whether your idea is even viable is a lot of work in itself. While asking here might get you some ideas, the help you'll get here barely scratches the surface of what you'll need to create a successful business.
So essentially, your idea isn't all that new of an idea. It probably wouldn't be profitable as your only service. There are almost certainly well established companies that you'd be competing against if you go after the more profitable related services. And you may find the contractor and business licensing processes, and operation of the business itself to be more difficult than the work itself.
In other words, if your business experience is akin to going door to door to rake leaves or shovel snow, your idea, while interesting, is going to be harder to successfully implement than you may be capable of. (And I base that on the fact that you're asking people in a cable modem newsgroup instead of something more appropriate for entrepreneurial questions.)
An apartment building, condo development, co-op, and common areas of an HOA are very different than a single residential unit. In a single residential unit, cabling installed ceases to be personal property, and becomes part of the real property. In the other situations, the cabling remains personal property or trade fixtures.
The cable company can only get back the cabling *installed* in a single residential unit if they had a lien against the property. Even then, they would need to restore the property to it's prior condition, or pay for damages. And they'd have to provide the labor. That's way, way beyond what it costs to just allow the cable to become part of the real property it's installed in. And once it's part of the real property you own, you can repurpose it for whatever you like, as long as you disconnect it from their network.
In the case of multi-unit residential properties, things are different. In your state a duplex or even a four-plex may still fall under the same rules as a single family home, but I don't believe that there are any states where anything larger than a four-plex doesn't fall under different property rules. And the common areas of a condo association, co-op, or HOA definitely don't enjoy the same protections as single family property in any state. In those situations, they most likely can retain ownership of the cabling. They may have to restore any damage done if they remove it, but they may also be able to elect to leave it in place, but still prevent it from being repurposed.
As for the cable boxes and cable modems, they aren't installed in the real property. They are mealy connected to the cable. The cable company may also ask for that short length of cable that you connect between the boxes and the coax outlet in the wall, as it isn't installed in the real property, either.
If you want to confirm my interpretation of the difference between cable installed in a single unit and a multi unit, and at what point the distinction is made in your state, consult an attorney specializing in real estate issues. But as for the difference in legal status between the cable installed in a home, and the modem that's just placed there, any licensed real estate broker should be qualified to give you a definitive answer on that one. (And if they aren't, your state needs better licensing standards.)
In most MDUs where the cable company (or authorized contractor) installed the cabling at their own expense, the cable company signs a Right of Entry for a set period of time, usually 7 years. After the ROE expires, the cabling belongs to the property and is free to be used for whatever the property owner sees fit.
Not all states require a contractor's license for telecommunications system installations. You would have to check with the particular state in question.
Did I say that the cable co. would force their way into your home? No. Forced entry is entirely a different matter from property ownership. And given that cable is so cheap, and given that most customers consider the cabling to be their own, the cable company wouldn't expend the labor needed to retrieve cabling when it would only anger the public.
I merely asserted that they could legally remove the cabling. Access to it is another matter. In practice, it means that they can remove or re-route or cut into wiring that they can get at when you allow them into your home or premises. Our cable company has the legal right to demand access to their trunk cable that enters our property and to access their amplifier and taps, but they must also schedule an appointment ahead of time with someone who has keys to the storerooms. Once they have access to the equipment that is theirs, they can do anything they want with it - including removing it.
In the case of our MDU satellite system, the HOA owns everything - that is part of the contract that we negotiated. But we also granted a ROE since the MDU installer was responsible for proper functioning of the equipment. And everything downstream of the splitters and taps was put in for cable TV more than 20 years ago . Some of our residents even used their one cable to get both satellite TV and cable Internet by using a diplexer at both ends of the cable.
Without any signed paperwork by you, they can't touch your inside wiring. There's no way they can prove ownership. In my case, the Cableco that may have installed the wiring (I don't know who actually did the install) is no longer doing business in town.
I disagree.
Equipment fine, cabling - no way without a signed agreement. Nor would they want to.
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