Minutes Cable TV Reg 2 11 04
MINUTES OF CABLE TV REGULATORY COMMISSION MEETING
FEBRUARY 11, 2004
CARNEGIE STOUT PUBLIC LIBRARY 3RD FLOOR ICN ROOM
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Ron Tigges, Walt Webster, Michael Pratt.
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Charles Ellis. One seat remains vacant on the Commission.
OTHERS PRESENT:
Kathy McMullen, General Manager of Mediacom
Merrill Crawford, Cable Franchise Administrator
Mr. Webster called the meeting to order at 5:39 p.m.
1.
Acceptance of the Agenda.
Upon a motion by Mr. Pratt, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the agenda was approved as
distributed.
2.
Approval of the Minutes of the January 14, 2004 Meeting.
Upon a motion by Mr. Pratt, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the Minutes of the January
14,2004 meeting were approved as distributed.
3.
Public Comment.
There was no one present to address the Commission.
4.
Rate Increase.
Ms. McMullen and Mr. Crawford reported that the announced increase in family
basic cable rates took effect February 1, 2004. Mr. Crawford noted an error in a
recent article in the Telegraph Herald, which had reported the rate for family basic
cable in Iowa City as being lower than the comparable package in Dubuque. Due
to the way Mediacom in Iowa City separates on subscriber bills the franchise fee
and a per-subscriber charge for PEG access as additional charges, the Iowa City
"family cable" subscriber actually pays $1.15 or $1.20 more for that package and
receives at least five fewer channels than does the comparable subscriber in
Dubuque, where franchise fees and other costs of business are recovered from
within the rate. Similar faulty comparisons have been recently made to other cities
in Iowa served by Mediacom due to this billing format.
5.
System Upgrade.
Ms. McMullen told Commissioners of the initial package of high definition television
Mediacom would be introducing soon, including Bravo, ESPN, Showtime, and
additional services as an optional package at an extra charge. Ms. McMullen
1
described to Commissioners the HD Showtime signals she is watching presently in
her own home as a test. She also told Commissioners of the efforts of Mediacom
to obtain signals of the local broadcast stations directly by optical fiber rather than
off the air.
6.
Status of Telecom Projects in Dubuque.
Mr. Crawford reported that he had no new information about any
telecommunication construction projects in the city at this time.
7.
Franchise Renewal.
Mr. Crawford told Commissioners that he would be appearing before the City
Council at their upcoming regular meeting to request authorization to advance the
formal cable franchise renewal process in tandem with the informal process which
is currently underway. Both the formal and informal processes are provided in the
1984 Cable Act and are both triggered by the cable operator sending a letter to the
franchise authority requesting renewal of its franchise. This letter is typically sent
within 30 months prior to the expiration of the franchise and was done in
Dubuque's case. He outlined the steps and major components of the formal
process, including a precise request for renewal proposal (RFRP) which is
eventually presented to the cable operator by the franchise authority. A specific
proposal is then delivered to the franchise authority by the cable operator, and at
later stages include an administrative hearing and perhaps appeals through the
court system. He emphasized that the moving of elements of the formal process
does not supercede the informal process, but in most cases, gives incentive to
both parties to work more actively to arrive at a satisfactory deal through the
informal process. Once such a deal is reached, the formal process terminates as
well. Mr. Crawford predicted that the first tangible elements of preparation of the
RFRP that Dubuquers or the Commission might notice will be franchise fee
payment analysis and a technical system audit. These would begin shortly after
the Council grants authority for these activities and their funding. Each of those
procedures has value at this time standing alone, and as components in
preparation of the formal RFRP. Even if a franchise renewal agreement is reached
in relatively short time via the informal process, the time, effort, and funding spent
on the franchise fee payment analysis and the technical system audit are
worthwhile.
8.
Mediacom General Manager's Report.
Ms. McMullen told Commissioners that Mediacom would be conducting
demonstrations of their new high-speed broadband service and, hopefully, their
high definition service at the Business P.M. at the Julien Inn and also at the Home
Show in March. She distributed copies of a new large brochure promoting the
degree of Mediacom's investment across the state of Iowa and detailing the many
ways in which Mediacom supports the economy and quality of life of the state and
of its individual franchised communities. Of particular interest among
Commissioners was a map showing optical fiber interconnects across the state.
2
9.
Cable Franchise Administrator's Report.
Mr. Crawford recommended Commissioners find a copy of the current issue of
Consumer Reports which has a series of articles on cable, satellite, big screen
monitors, etc. in practical comparative terms.
Mr. Crawford shared his early ideas on topics for the Cable TV booth at this year's
City Expo on April 13 and asked for ideas and assistance.
The City Council's budget hearing for the Cable TV Division will be Monday,
February 23, later in the agenda. The Commissioners are invited to attend.
Mr. Crawford distributed copies of a report recently distributed by the Government
Accounting Office regarding the state competition in markets where there is more
than one wire line service provider. In such markets, subscription rates tend to be
15% or more below rates for similar packages in markets where there is not wire
line competition. Presence of direct broadcast satellite programming alone as
competition to a single cable operator does not have that effect on prices. Mr.
Crawford also told Commissioners that the FCC had begun hearings regarding
cable competition and trade magazines were suggesting that the Congress may
attempt to revamp the 1996 Telecommunications Act in 2005. Meanwhile, as
many as four bills have been introduced in the Iowa State Legislature and will
probably be combined into a single bill in the Senate, proposing a series of
prohibitions and burdens on the municipal cable and telecommunications utilities,
such as property tax, opening records to the private competition which not requiring
the same of the competitors, and prohibitions against cross-subsidization by
municipal utilities when the very nature of the private cable and
telecommunications businesses is intricately involved with cross-subsidization.
10.
Future Agenda Items.
No additional items were suggested.
11.
Adjournment.
Upon a motion by Mr. Tigges, seconded by Mr. Pratt, the meeting was adjourned
at 6:39 p.m.
MC/cj
3