Broadband Architectures, ISP Business Plans, and Open Access

Something suspiciously resembling a double standard exists in US regulation of broadband access carriers. Incumbent local exchange carriers?ILECs?are required to open their networks to competing service providers, while cable television companies are not. Where did Congress and the FCC get it right? In the telco case, where open access is required, and there is a nascent competitive market for telephony and DSL services, or in the case of cable data networks, where consumers usually have no choice but to buy their service from the cable company's affiliated ISP? Or is disparity the best policy?