June 2005

Chairman Blum calls the June Meeting of the Cable Franchise Board to order.

Chairman Blum welcomes Mr. Kent Burrow, who is a new member of the Board. Mr. Burrow was appointed by the City-County Council for a two-year term.

The first item on the agenda is the approval of the May Board Meeting Minutes, which were included in the Board Packets. Mr. Winston moves to approve the minutes. Mr. Burrow seconds the motion. The motion is carried unanimously.

The next item is the Cable Agency Report submitted by Mr. Maultra.

Mr. Maultra thanks the Board for the opportunity to highlight some of the things the Cable Communications Agency has been involved with during the past month.

Bright House has been sent the findings by the auditor with respect to the franchise fee audit covering years 2002-2003. The Agency is still awaiting a response back from Bright House with respect to those findings. Mr. Maultra met with Bright House last week and they assured him that those will be forthcoming.

The Cable Agency staff met with the Controller’s Office to discuss budget prep for 2006 and offered their budget cuts for 2005 that met the 15% goal requested by the Controller’s Office. The Agency also offered their budget cuts for 2006.

The Agency met twice with Comcast to discuss the launch fees owed to the City as outlined by the auditor for years 1998-2003. The meetings provided only a reiteration of each party’s positions.

The Agency has received a number of public service drop requests from various City-County departments, some of which are routine enough that Bright House can install without cost to the requesting department. Some requests are going to require some pondering by the requesting entity as to whether or not they wish to consider paying for the requested drop.

The Cable Communications Agency has been serving as a consumer advocate to Indianapolis and Marion County cable subscribers in assisting them in mediating cable complaints on their behalf.

For the month of May, the Agency received 21 total complaints from Bright House customers and 73 total complaints from Comcast customers. For both companies the high area of cable complaints was in the area of billing. Comcast had several in customer service. Both companies had a few in service interruptions, and Comcast had a few for unburied cable.

Mr. Maultra also adds that the Agency’s Office Manager, Ms. Janise Winston, recently has moved on to get gainful employment elsewhere. He publicly thanks her for her service and her years with the Agency and wishes her well.

Mr. Maultra concludes his remarks and opens for any questions that the Board may have.

The next item on the agenda is the Government Access TV Programming Report submitted by Mr. Montgomery.

Mr. Montgomery, Manager of Channel 16, goes over the May Programming and Production Report that was included in the Board Packets.

There were 63 hours and 33 minutes of new live or taped programming for meeting coverage. That included the normal round of events, and included a few things that happened periodically. The Cultural Development Commission and the Children’s Health & Environment Committee ran a lengthy amount of time over the last couple of months. There were 44 events total last month that Channel 16 covered.

For specials and events production, Channel 16 covered 13 hours, 53 minutes, and 30 seconds.

Channel 16 covered the Indy Parks Citywide Talent Contest and another Mothers Against Drunk Driving Victim Impact Panel. Channel 16 finds that there is a lot of viewer response from that particular programming. They also helped Health and Hospitals. They did an event in the SerVass Public Assembly Room called Covering the Uninsured Town Hall that Channel 16 was able to cover live on a fairly short notice.

In-kind production was fairly light last month with only 2 hours and 20 minutes. Channel 16 primarily did a series of hot spots with Chief Greeson from the Indianapolis Fire Department. Only one of which was reflected on Channel 16’s report. The other two happened on the first two days of June so those will be on next month’s report.

In series programs, there were 3 hours and 45 minutes of new production.

For the month of May in all categories, there were 83 hours, 31 minutes, and 30 seconds.

The in-kind service value for the month of May was $790.

Mr. Montgomery also adds that Channel 16 suffered a loss. Their staff producer, Jeff Coats, has taken a new opportunity to do GIS work with Paul Ricketts at the Lawrence Township Assessors Office. He did great work for Channel 16 for almost 7 years. He was very creative and very industrious and was a very enjoyable person to work with.

Mr. Montgomery closes with his report and his remarks and opens for questions from the Board.

Mr. Winston asks Mr. Montgomery if he ever has requests, or if he ever covers Indy Go Board Meetings.

Mr. Montgomery states that he does, and in fact, they just started covering them on a regular basis a few months ago.

Mr. Winston asks Mr. Montgomery if he intends to cover the MPL Meetings on transit and all the things that are basically getting on the front page of the local newspaper.

Mr. Montgomery responds that he does intend to do so. He adds that he believes there is a big MPO Meeting coming up this Thursday where they will be announcing some significant plans and this is the final route that they have chosen for the northeast corridor. That’s a fairly important one and he does intend to have somebody there covering that.

Mr. Montgomery adds that if Channel 16 can’t carry the meeting live, they tape it, bring it back, put titling on it, and put it on as quickly as possible afterwards.

Chairman Blum asks Mr. Montgomery how the Neighborhood Group Program is going.

Mr. Montgomery responds that their was an initial surge of interest that has somewhat died down and they just haven’t been beating the bushes quite as diligently as they could to try to get things going with that. They also have been working with the township administrators to get some of those folks to come on, but with budget issues going on, it seems like some of those folks are a little preoccupied with those matters. They are still working on it, they are still on production on it, but it has curtailed somewhat.

The next item on the agenda is the operator’s reports, starting with Bright House.

Al Aldridge, Director of Public Affairs for Bright House Networks, will go over their report that was included in the Board Packets.

Bright House started the month with 2997 limited basic customers and ended the month with 3053, which gave them an increase of 56 customers. They started the month with 58,865 full cable service customers and ended the month with 58,595, which was a loss of 270. The system total was a loss of 214 customers for the month.

Bright House received 46,991 calls during the month of May. They handled 46,870 of those calls. 44,890 calls were answered in 30 seconds or less, which gave them a total of 96% calls answered in 30 seconds or less.

Bright House was in agreement with the Cable Agency with 21 complaints reported and recorded for the month of May. The area was primarily billing and there were some calls regarding service interruptions.

100% of service interruptions calls were addresses within 24 hours. There were no planned service interruptions. There were 26 unplanned service interruptions. 3325 subscribers were affected by service interruptions. The total service interruption hours were 37.8. System reliability for the month of May was 99.9914%.

100% of total service calls were addressed within the next business day, unless as otherwise directed by the customer. There were no appointments kept outside of the 4-hour service window during normal business hours, unless requested by the customer.

100% of standard installations were performed within 7 days or by the customer’s request.

There was no construction for the month of May.

The Division ran in-kind promotional spots for VA, American Cabaret Theater's "Rock Spell", community event PSA's with Councilwoman Jackie Nytes, Councilman Scott Keller, and Councilman Ron Gibson. Bright House also ran a Commuter Services PSA. The value of these gratis spots was $22,156.

The division was a recent first time sponsor of the 2005 Techpoint MIRA Awards at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. These awards recognize excellence in Indiana technological applications. Bright House Network's Division President, Buz Nesbit, was selected to be an award presenter. This was the first year that BHN agreed to sponsorship.

The Indiana division had two awards recipients at the inaugural Midwest Cable Academy session held in Indianapolis during the month. Ray Pawulich, Vice President of Sales and Area Operations received the Academy's "Hall of Fame" Award. This award is given to individuals who have excelled in he industry of 20 years or more. Glen Connell, Director of Network Ops, received the Academy's "Pinnacle Award." This award is given for innovative management initiatives. Al Aldridge, Director of Public Affairs was a guest panelist for the topic, "Improving Media Relations. Over 250 people from Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio attended the sessions.

The division provided media support to the Indianapolis Police Department's Walk with IPD at Washington Park.

The division was informed during the month, that four more IPS elementary schools have been selected to receive a $25,000 grants from the "Save the Music Foundation." This will increase to 22, the number of IPS schools that have been selected to receive this grant in the last five years. The schools are #’s 27, 31, 107, and 114.

The continued partnership with WDNI provided over 231 hours of local programming as mandated by the City's franchise agreement.

Mr. Aldridge concludes his report and opens for questions.

Mike Delph appears to present on behalf of Comcast to report to the Board their report for the month of May.

Effective June 30 all premium networks on Comcast Indianapolis channel line up will be available exclusively on the Comcast digital line up. As a result, all customers receiving those channels will need additional set top box on every TV in which they wish to view a premium network.  This change will allow customers to receive multiple channels of their favorite premium network, on demand content from those networks at no additional charge, in addition to state of the art controls that will empower parents to control of what their children are able to view.

Comcast Digital Cable also includes more than 40 commercial free digital music channels and access to Pay-Per-View event and full season sports packages from major league baseball, NASCAR, the NBA, and WMBA.

Finally, moving these premium networks to Comcast Digital will preserve capacity on broadband networks for new and expanded services.

The number of customers requesting total basic service increased by 96 for the month of May.

89.79% of calls were answered in 30 seconds or less with a busy rate of 2.12%

The system reliability was 99.97% for the month. Comcast had 35 planned service interruptions for system improvements.

94.82% of total service calls were addressed within the next business day, unless otherwise directed by the customer. 99.81% of appointments were kept within the 4-hour service window during normal business hours, unless otherwise directed by a customer.

100% of all standard installations were performed within 7 days or by customer request.

There were 73 complaints sent to the Agency.

Comcast completed construction in three new sub divisions and one apartment complex.

Comcast aired over 225 hours of local community interest programming during the month of May.

Comcast aired public service announcements for the National Day of Prayer and for the Russian Festival. This was done at an in-kind cost of approximately $40,000.

Appearing on Newsmakers this month was City-County Councilor, Mike Speedy, State Senator, Jeff Drozda, State Representative, David Orentlicher, Larry O’Connor with the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Helen Small with the Indy Jazz Fest, and others.

Comcast partnered with the Indiana Blood Center and hosted an on-site mobile blood drive, May 12. Twenty-one (21) employees generously rolled up their sleeves to help maintain a blood supply that is plentiful enough to serve the needs of our hospitals.

Comcast was a sponsor of the International Center of Indianapolis 2005 International Citizen of the Year Award Dinner and Silent Auction, May 16. This year the silent auction raised $14,000 for the Center's programs and services that help residents facing cultural challenges.

Comcast is also a proud sponsor of the Childhood Leukemia Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating the pain and suffering of children afflicted with all types of cancer. The monies raised this year will aid local pediatric oncology treatment centers.

Mr. Delph concludes his final report and opens for questions.

Chairman Blum points out that around the daily service levels of the submitted monthly report, overall, the month looks good, but there were 4 days that were off. He questions if there was a particular problem during a certain day of the week, or if it was due to weather.

Mr. Delph responds that he does not have that particular report in front of him, but he said Comcast was close to meeting the 90% service level and they are on target for the quarter.

Chairman Blum questions about backing out calls associated with third party caused damage, if it is a contractor of Comcast’s. He asks if Comcast is unable to back out one of their own co-operators, then why would they be able to back out calls from a contractor that they hired.

Mr. Delph responds that they are given guidance by the FCC to back out certain types of calls and Comcast tries to comply with that guidance. He will need to look into it and get back with the Board about that. He asks Chairman Blum if there is a particular date that he is questioning.

Chairman Blum responds that two of the three days noted at the bottom of the Daily Service Level Report showed 870 calls removed. The dates were 5/2/05 and 5/21/05.

Chairman Blum asks both operators how the numbers reported between the operators and the Agency are going and recognizes that it has been 3 months in a row that the numbers have been the same.

Mr. Delph and Mr. Aldridge both agree that the process is working well.

Mr. Winston asks Mr. Delph about the digital service being put into homes this month and asks if the customers will have to get additional equipment. He asks if Comcast will have to extend hours if the customer will need to come in during normal business hours to get a box.

Mr. Delph answers that customers will have to get a set top box to view channels such as Cinemax, HBO, and Showtime. He states that the customer can come pick up the box at the facility or Comcast will roll a truck out to deliver a box.

Mr. Winston is concerned that there could possibly be an increase of complaints and calls concerning how to install the box, it’s not working correctly, asking for help.

Mr. Delph states that could certainly happen. Anytime there is a change, and obviously, June 30th is a date that there will be a change, that could be a discomfort to some people and that could have an increase in complaints. He adds that Comcast has taken a number of months to put the internal processing in place to make this as painless as possible.

Mr. Maultra has a question in respect to that. The small number of people that are still taking the premium services on the analog, and that is being phased out, they need to be bumped over to digital, therefore they have to pay extra to get the digital box. He asks if there is any kind of special that is being offered to these customers in the migration to lessen the pain.

Ms. Cindy Cade states that it is revenue neutral. They will not pay anymore for the digital box than they would pay for the analog box for up to a year.

The next item on the agenda is the ETC Report.

Tamika Williams reporting on behalf of Earl Harris for the ETC Monthly Report.

ETC Programming
IPS produced the third “Celebration of Peace.” This show originated from the Murat Temple. It will spotlight and celebrate students within IPS who have made a commitment to peace in schools. This program can be seen on ETC 1.

“TechKnow-Build” will showcase students presenting their findings to community leaders on issues facing the City of Indianapolis using technology. The students also fielded questions from audience members. This program will be seen on ETC 1 in July.

“IPS Treasures” is a show produced by IPS Television Intern Kyle Flood. Kyle is from the Telecommunications Magnet at IPS Arsenal Technical High School. “IPS Treasures” will feature little known facts about IPS as well as information on famous students from the district.  This program will be seen on ETC starting in July.

More “Investing Today” programs are being taped. The show focuses on providing financial information to viewers in order to help them create better financial situations for themselves. The production is being funded by its host. A future update will be given.

A guided tour by the CEO of the newly renovated Art Museum is in production. The program is expected to be seen later this summer. A future update will be given.

This report is respectfully submitted by Tamika Williams. The schedules for Channel 1 and for Channel 2 are attached to this report.

The next item on the agenda is the Public Purpose Grant Request for the Educational Television Cooperative submitted by Mr. Maultra.

The Cable Agency was asked by the Controller’s Office to reduce it’s 2005 budget by 15%. With that, there is a sharing of that burden across the board, certainly to lesser extents for some entities compared to others. The Agency, with regard to the ETC Public Purpose Grant, has reduced the amount from $50,000 to that of $41,050 for 2005. The Agency tried to keep the Public Purpose Grant in tact to the best of their ability, given the other budget cuts that were made in various sub-objects.

In the interest of time, as this does involve the Purchasing Department, the Controller’s Office, Indiana University signing the contracts, and the Agency and ETC working together to help expedite this, Mr. Maultra is requesting that the Board approve out of the Agency’s budget, out of character 3, the $41,050. This would conform to the budget cuts and recommendations from the City’s Controller’s Office.

Mr. Winston asks if Mr. Maultra has an idea what ETC’s annual over all budget is.

Mr. Maultra responds that it is the usual $50,000 that the Agency gives them out of the Public Purpose Grant, and then Mr. Harris submits a PEG Grant Funding Request and it is usually based on equipment that they are in need of. That can range anywhere between $70,000 to $100,000.

Chairman Blum states that one of the challenges that ETC faces is that they do not have other meaningful funding sources. The Board has had some conversations with them to try to get them to expand their funding base so that they are not totally reliant on the City. As the City continues to have fiscal difficulty, ETC will as well, unless they can find some other avenues.

Mr. Maultra states that the Agency is having a meeting on Friday with ETC to discuss some ideas to make them more self-sufficient.

Mr. Winston would like to recommend to some people that have programming on ETC’s report, be approached for funding support.

Mr. Winston moves for a motion on the approval of the ETC Public Purpose Grant. Mr. Burrow seconds the motion. The motion is carried unanimously.

The next item on the agenda is the Comcast Franchise Fee Audit, however, Mr. Maultra would like to go over the IRIS Public Purpose Grant first. It is a similar situation as the ETC Public Purpose Grant.

The budget for the IRIS Public Purpose Grant for last year was $35,000. The history of this particular grant was there was a counselor named Thomas Hallsbrook who was a vision-impaired City-County Counselor and he started an organization called CIRI (Central Indiana Reading Incorporated), which eventually turned over to IRIS. There was a connection there between the City-County Counsel wanting to have this in the budget.

Last year IRIS was budgeted at $35,000. To meet the 15% requirement in the budget cuts for the Controller’s Office, the Agency has reduced their Public Purpose Grant to $20,000. ETC’s primary funding source comes from the City as compared to IRIS is under the WFYI Teleplex and they have other fundraising mechanisms.

The Agency has notified IRIS of the budget cut that is going to be made with the Public Purpose Grant. Mr. Maultra wanted to get the issue before the Board so he could go ahead and start the process of getting them their Public Purpose Grant as soon as possible.

Mr. Winston would like to recommend that IRIS approach some of the other county governments in the other counties that are getting services. He also recommends to Chairman Blum, that the Board provide a letter for IRIS to present to the other county councils stating the importance of the program.

Mr. Winston moves for a motion to approve the IRIS Public Purpose Grant for $20,000. Mr. Burrow seconds the motion. The motion is carried unanimously.

The Board then returns to the Comcast Franchise Fee Audit for discussion.

Mr. Maultra, representing the Cable Communications Agency, would like to reflect the following findings of fact from the Cable Agency perspective with respect to the outstanding franchise fee audit matter with Comcast.

The launch fees and marketing coop owed for the audit periods of 1998-2003 is $468,942 including interest accrued through March 31 of this year. The auditor bases this amount owed to the City on the language in the City’s present franchise agreement with Comcast and the City Code of 851.

Section 1.02 of the Code Definitions, the term Gross Revenues means any and all revenues derived from the operations of Operator’s Cable System to provide cable services.

Section 2.04 of the Comcast Cable Franchise Agreement says the operator shall pay the City a franchise fee in the amount of 5% of Operator’s gross revenues derived from operation of a Cable System to provide Cable Service.

Mr. Maultra states that the franchise clearly speaks to including launch fees as part of the gross revenues derived from its cable operations. The launch fee revenue is based purely on the number of Indianapolis subscribers and therefore is part of the definition of ‘any and all revenues derived from the operations of Operator’s Cable System to provide cable services,’ per the City Code.

The definition of the franchise agreement is not a moving interpretation target nor is the language subject to interpretation.

On February 18, 2003, the Cable B0ard gave its approval to the auditor to look at launch fees and advertising with respect to the audits being performed.

In settlement letter to the City dated March 1, 2004, “Comcast proposes that the issue with respect to launch fees remain open at this time. Comcast proposes that the parties have an understanding that the issue can be revisited and that a future decision in another jurisdiction would be of assistance in addressing the issue.” That future decision in another jurisdiction was specifically the LA arbitration settlement with Comcast with respect to launch fees.

That outcome of the LA matter was that the arbitrator told Comcast that GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) were not applicable and consequent to that the parties settled on the launch fee matter. Office of Corporation Counsel echoes the arbitrator’s sentiments in his May 9 memo to the Cable Board on this issue.

Furthermore, on May 5, 2004, the City of Los Angeles received $400,000 owed to it on launch fees for which the City of Indianapolis received a copy.  The document clearly outlines that the payments are to be made to the City of LA for owed amounts on launch fees and it is signed off on by a Senior VP for Comcast.

When asked, the City of Los Angeles reported that no pass through of these amounts owed to the City was ever performed by Comcast.

GAAP considerations are not a part of the Indianapolis’ franchise agreement with Comcast. If it were, the franchise language would reflect that.

Suburban Portland, which has a system size with Comcast the same as Indianapolis’, reports that Comcast routinely pays franchise fees on launch and advertising revenue from the operator.

Sacramento, CA is presently suing Comcast regarding non-payment of launch fees as a material breech of its franchise with that City.

The Cable Board, at its February 2005 meeting, had asked that Comcast provide tangible justification to back up company claims that launch fees received by Comcast are used as a ‘contra expense’ against promotion or ‘other’ expense.

Comcast eventually sent the City a pro forma document that had all zeros in its statement. From Mr. Maultra’s perspective, this in no way complied with the Board’s request to prove specific dollar offsets per Comcast’s contra expense argument.

In conclusion, the Cable Agency recommends that the Cable Franchise Board TABLE the matter of the launch fee issue for both cable operators with accruing interest stopping today for each. It does not serve the City’s best interest to limit its options when so much money is clearly owed to it from each operator in years past, present day, and going forward. The City is NOT well served by limiting its options on this matter and Mr. Maultra cannot think of any reasonable argument in which limiting the City’s options is a prudent course of action to take.

The City is presently strapped for cash, and the Cable Agency is not convinced that the Mayor’s Office, the City-County Council, or the Controller’s Office wants to limit its options or cut off monies owed to it. In the end, the City may want to seek legal remedy just to see if a court of competent jurisdiction believes that the law of the land is the franchise agreement signed by both parties or believes that Comcast is on higher ground with its interpretation of contra expenses and GAAP applications.

Mr. Maultra concludes his remarks and recommendations to the Board.

Mr. Delph’s response to the Comcast Franchise fee audit matter is that they have visited the issue of launch fees over the last 6-7 months.

At last month’s Board meeting, Comcast went in to great detail on the issue of launch fees. At that meeting, Chairman Blum requested that Comcast and the Cable Agency try to sit down and see if they could work something out.

Mr. Delph met with Mr. Maultra, along Jonathan Bryant. During the course of the meeting, it became clear to Mr. Delph that the whole issue was hinging on the issue of Los Angeles. Mr. Delph arranged a conference call with all the people that were involved, including people from the Corporate Office.

Mr. Delph stated that Mr. Maultra asked Comcast to agree to something now that would then, going forward, make the launch fees not be an issue. Mr. Delph asked Mr. Maultra if launch fees are a revenue stream now, why they would not be going forward. Mr. Delph also asked Mr. Maultra if launch fees are being paid in Los Angeles on a going forward basis. Comcast found out from their internal review that they are not, according to Mr. Delph.

Mr. Delph thinks the fundamental question of what a revenue stream or a revenue source is a valid question, with respect to the issue on GAAP. Comcast takes the position that launch fees are a contra expense. They provided a pro forma statement to the Board, which shows on their P and O where specifically launch fees are accounted for.

The issue of the zeros is irrelevant because the dollar amount doesn’t matter. What matters is the mechanics on the P and O on where that line item is accounted for. It could have been 1 dollar, 10 thousand dollars, or a million dollars. The fact of the matter is that it was below on the expense line item as a contra expense. Mr. Delph’s perspective on behalf of Comcast, fundamentally disagrees on the philosophy with respect to launch fees. Mr. Delph went through the history of the Cable Board actions at the last Board meeting. This Board has voted on at least two different occasions not to include launch fees under the definition of gross revenues.

Mr. Delph believes that is was probably in error that Comcast didn’t include something in reference to GAAP because the general accounting standards all have a structure that they need to report to. Going forward, when talking about the new franchise agreement, Mr. Delph will probably be talking about making sure that Comcast adheres to appropriate accounting standards.

Mr. Delph believes that Comcast and the Cable Agency have a basic philosophical disagreement on this issue. Mr. Delph and Mr. Maultra have sat down on a couple of occasions and the attorneys talked directly with Corporate Counsel out of Philadelphia.  The Board has been briefed on all those meetings and has been given copies of all those pieces of correspondence.

Mr. Delph will be happy to answer any questions from the Board and also welcomes Mike Dull, Area Director of Finance, to talk about email traffic of today from Comcast’s perspective at the appropriate time.

Chairman Blum suggests that the Board direct the attorney to send Comcast a settlement letter for of $49,909. That is an undisputed amount that the City owes Comcast.

Mr. Winston asked Chairman Blum if the amount was $49,000 or $78,000.

Mr. Delph responds that the amount that Comcast has claimed at each Board meeting since January was $78,128.

Chairman Blum responds that it was the City that claimed the $49,909 and he received an agreement from Comcast to settle on this amount.

Mr. Dull would like to go over the figures for the record.

The two points that make up the difference between the $78,128 and the $49,909 are

1.) The FCC user fees that were charged when Comcast and the accounting group did the recalculation. It was determined that they should not be included in the revenues, and that was what was presented at the December 16, 2004 meeting that was held at the Comcast facilities. Since then, there has been further discussion with the Division Office and Comcast does agree with the auditor’s findings on that. Mr. Dull went on to say that the FCC user fees should not be excluded and should be part of the amount in which franchise fees are paid on.
2.) The customer coding adjustments. The difference between the calculation that Mr. Dull, and the calculation that the City’s auditor, Mr. Lewis came up with was a difference of $22,417. The discrepancy is a result of a different philosophy on how the differences in the coding errors and the revenue should be tabulated.

Mr. Burrow moves for a motion to direct counsel to draft a settlement letter to Comcast agreeing on the undisputed amount on the audit. Mr. Winston seconds the motion. Motion is carried unanimously.

Mr. Winston reminds the Board that there has been two budget cuts to entities that provide services to people in this community, and indirectly in other communities at this meeting.  He would like to stress that it is absolutely incumbent upon some of the municipalities around this community in this county to help defray the costs of services that the City provides for the people in their communities. This is an outgrowth of an effort made by the Chief Executive of this county to reduce the cost of operating his government.

It was turned down by legislative decision and the end result is that people are having to make budget cuts for programs that the Board thinks is very worthy. Mr. Winston asks the communities that care to try to pick up some of the slack for these programs. Unlike some of the things that are wholly located in Marion County, the programs that the Board has had to make budget decisions on, impact other communities that provide services to people in counties other than Marion County.

Under Public Comment is Andrea Price, President of a local, non-profit organization called Public Access of Indianapolis.

Ms. Price’s organization has been fighting to restore a public access television channel here in the City since it was ended with the cable franchise agreements that were signed in 1996.

Ms. Price is a Comcast customer, partially converted to digital. She looked on their website to see how much more it is going to cost to get additional set top boxes. In talking to Bright House customers and talking to people around the country, it seems her bill is already among some of the highest in the country. Looking at this conversion, before the promised “no increase in the bill,” it was going to cost about another 20%. That is a very substantial amount of an increase for customers who have not fully converted already to using digital for the premium channels.

On top of that, to hear that the City, in it’s dire financial straights, is walking away from half a million dollars, that is clearly owed to the City, in terms of Ms. Price’s reading of the franchise language which talks about any and all gross revenues that come from the operation of cable systems that is not spoken to any of the five exclusions that are within the city code.

The cable operators should be paying franchise fees on launch fees and it’s something that Ms. Price has contended. She was at the meetings several years ago when this was voted on originally. It was a contentious decision and from the average person’s perspective, it really doesn’t read very well when Comcast can stand up and say that when they get money from a cable subscriber from carrying different channels, that is not revenue and they do not have to pay franchise fees on that.

Ms. Price continued that from what has been learned from other cities around the country, unlike some of the cities that Mr. Maultra has mentioned at this meeting, that have successfully negotiated settlements on these launch fees, are literally losing hundreds of millions of dollars each year by cable operators like Comcast fighting against the payment of franchise fees, launch fees, and also advertising revenue.

Ms. Price is concerned that she has not heard discussion about anything in the budget to do with community needs assessment and preparation for the next set of cable franchise renewals. According to the Cable Act, the City is responsible for initiating some sort of needs assessment within six months after the initiation for the start of the cable franchise renewal period. By Ms. Price’s estimation, that means that those studies should commence in 2006.

From Ms. Price’s Perspective, it is very important given the challenging history and the desires for services that the City has not provided over the last several years, that the City do a thorough job in terms of assessing what the community’s needs are today, as well as into the future.

Ms. Price asks the Board what is the plan for assessing the community needs as part of the cable franchise renewal process.

Chairman Blum responds to Ms. Price’s comments. With regard to the launch fee money, the problem with collecting the money from Comcast is that Comcast fully intended to actually have the subscribers pay for it. The City would have received a substantial amount of revenue but it would not have come off the back of Comcast.

Ms. Price responds that with her discussions with people, they felt that they were willing for the City to take that chance to stand up on that issue. She was willing to risk another dollar for the City to stand up and say they were going to collect all the revenues that were due to the City.

Chairman Blum responds with regard to the needs assessment, Ms. Price’s point was very well taken. Outside of saying that the Board needs to get together and talk about how they’re going to do the entire renewal process, they haven’t got any farther than that. He assures her that some assessment will be done.

Ms. Price asks about the budget for that and Chairman Blum responds that has not been addressed yet either.

Kathleen Dobie, under Public Comment, is interested in the needs assessment as well. She asks the Board to do what is in their power to get it in this budget and to budget the amount sufficient to do the thorough study in light of the cable franchise agreements that will go on for 8-10 years or longer.

George Zeltner, under Public Comment, expresses his concern about the unburied cable problems that Comcast has and their response time to getting those complaints resolved.

Ms. Cade apologizes to Mr. Zeltner for his experience and explains that Comcast does try to get their jobs buried in a timely manner.

Jim Smashey, under Public Comment, voices his opinion on the Comcast Franchise Fee issue and deregulation of cable.

Ms. Cade has contacted her technical director and makes clarification that there seems to be some misunderstanding with regard to the contractor and the drop buries. Comcast does about 350 drop buries a week, which could be what Mr. Zeltner was referring to. The oldest one is from March 23rd.

Mr. Maultra responds to one of Mr. Smashey’s comments about when Bright House was going to be rolling out VOIP. An IBJ article for the week of June 13-19 states that Bright House is to be rolling out VOIP later this year.

Chairman Blum adjourns the meeting.




___________________________
Mr. Peter Blum, Chairman

___________________________
Mr. Kent Burrow, Member

___________________________
Mr. Daniel Lynch, Member

___________________________
Mr. Robin Winston, Member

___________________________
Ms. Cristy Tirotta, Recording Secretary

Home | Search | Services | Mayor | Council | City | County | Courts

© 1996 - 2008 All Rights Reserved | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | About this Site