A higher level of flexibility means the service life of a cable inside a cable carrier can be greatly extended.

If a city council wants to force a cable carrier to carry any Internet service provider, it is a matter of business regulation.

"I personally believe there will be good acceptance among the cable carriers," Schiller said.

Mr. Gore's group faces a host of challenges, among them developing new programs, getting distribution by cable carriers and attracting advertisers.

"We tried to articulate the logic that it's better to have at least two cable carriers, not one," Beck said.

In keeping with this family tradition, an AT&T cable spinoff would set out as the nation's biggest cable carrier.

A combined Comcast-Mediaone, however, has a strong chance to emerge as the cable carrier with the best combination of size and Internet familiarity.

Nowadays, plastic (specifically, polypropylene or PP) cable carriers are also widely used.

But combined with the cable carriers' strong market power, the advertising bans are raising concerns from some consumer advocates.

However, many cable carriers in the market (particularly outside the Evansville and Owensboro areas) didn't carry it.