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ALBANY -- The Water, Gas and Light Commission is searching for a cable provider to help them enter the local cable business.

The commission has had a relationship with Tallahassee, Fla.-based L2Networks which it still uses to provide commercial telecom service. The commission would not provide the service itself; it would instead provide the transportation channels for the cable.

"We have been in the process of looking to get into residential cable service with L2Network over the past several years, but we've just run into some problems with that," said John Vansant III, the commission's finance director. "We just were looking into getting into an additional business. We've had a telecom department for a number of years."

Vansant said the cost of the infrastructure setup with L2Networks was too costly for the commission.

"The benefit will be possibly lower rates, different packages, and different providers to meet the criteria of what one would want out of a service," said Robin Bailey, a Mediacom subscriber.

"We would have a lot of choices, not just one entity making decisions," said Kathlean Branch, a satellite subscriber.

L2Networks would not comment. They only said certain aspects of the operation "remain under non-disclosure."

Mediacom and satellite providers remain the only options for those in the Metro Albany Area.

Commission officials said even if a new provider is found, it is not likely to happen anytime soon.