Undoubtedly one of the major players in the development of the National Information Infrastructure will the cable television industry. Last year a proposed merger (that has since collapsed) between Tele-Communications Inc., the nations largest cable provider (with approximately 12 million subscribers) and Bell Atlantic would have created one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world (one that, many think, may well have single handedly created the NII. Regardless,
cable television serv[es] 62% of US TV households, almost 55 million homes, who pay $20 billion annually for the service. Of all 93 million US households, 91 million of them (97%) have coaxial cable running at or near their property line ("homes passed" in cable terminology).and is run by some of the world's most outspoken, and dynamic CEO's, like TCI's John Malone (a man Al Gore has referred to as "Darth Vader"
