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Your neighbor's foreclosure may raise your cable rates

We've never been a big fan of the exclusive deals that some homeowner's associations sign with content providers, but despite the FCC's recent ban, many contracts are still in place. With much of the country watching their property values plummet, it appears some are having to pay more for HD as a result as well. The problem is that the contracts only make sense if everyone in your 'hood is paying their part, and as you'd expect when a house gets foreclosed on, the last thing the newly homeless people are worried about is paying the HOA fees. So as more houses go vacant, the price per house goes up and in at least one community in Florida, it has gone up about 44 percent. So if you're on the board of one of theses things, and someone gets the bright idea to sign an exclusive deal, do everyone a favor and just tell 'em no.

[Via Tampa HDTV]