It should be noted that it's not like this ISP is shutting down, it's just being barred from serving customers outside its county. This action shuts off service for about 200 people, but the ISP will continue to serve over 7,000. Still pretty bad, but not as bad as the headline makes it seem.
How are government sponsored protectionist laws like this even legal? It's very frustrating.
Edit: For further context, both towns wanted the service, which makes it even more frustrating. If Wilson made its service private there'd be no issue.
Can a private enterprise be government owned? I guess not? How about a tiny startup with one person operating billing and they call it a "private-public partnership"?