Cable TV Franchise
According to the Tampa Tribune, the County Commission will vote on the cable TV franchise tommorrow.
Hillsborough County officials, meanwhile, are pushing for more public and government channels from Bright House (for a total of five) in exchange for a new cable TV franchise - a deal that could generate more than $1 billion for cable companies in a 10-year span.In an email I received:
In a worst-case scenario for public access, advocates say their shows could end up marginalized, threatening their First Amendment-inspired mission to empower the public with access to airwaves and cable TV systems.
"With so much media consolidation, less than a dozen companies now own most of the newspapers, magazines, books and TV stations," said Louise Thompson, executive director of Speak Up Tampa Bay, which manages public access TV in Tampa Bay. "Local public access centers have become the only place where average people can go to get their message and stories across and petition their government for change."
It has become very apparent that Brighthouse Networks is out to KILL the Education Channel and Explorer Channel in Hillsborough County.
The background on these local resources is that the two channels operated by Tampa Educational Cable Consortium were created as part of a Public or Community Benefits package the original cable provider pledged to the community when they initiated the cable development in Hillsborough County.
Along with many other things that developed from the Public Benefits package was the Communication Department at University of Tampa for instance. On February 1, 2006 the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) will negotiate this franchise agreement (which has been up for the past 3 years) in public. Brighthouse Networks has spent thousands of dollars to defame the worth and character of our services. They have created and aired ads on all their cable channels. They have sent postcards to all their subscribers. They have paid for a non-scientific survey that concludes "nobody watches educational access" and therefore we need to eliminate it."
More on the issue.
Call or email your County Commissioner, directly.
Kathy Castor: 272-5470
Ken Hagen: 272-5452
Tom Scott: 272-5720
Rhonda Storms: 272-5740
Jim Norman: 272-5725
Brian Blair: 272-5730
Mark Sharpe: 272-5735
email to: info@hillsboroughcounty.org
This is the email I am sending out:
"Dear Commissioner,
This is to urge to you to vote for more Public, Educational and Government (PEG) channels and to make Channel 19 - City of Tampa TV available for viewing by county residents. I also urge you to oppose any attempt to make any such channels "On Demand", as that will marginalize those channels.
Tampa and Hillsborough County is a diverse community and we need to continue to maintain accessible outlets for freedom of speech, even if it is something we disagree with. I prefer to make up my own mind as to what I want to watch, hear or read. I can always change the channel if I do not want to hear what is said, but that presumes the channel is there in the first place.
I understand this franchise agreement would mean $1 billion for cable companies in a 10-year span. In light of the Enron and Jack Abramoff scandals, it is obvious that what serves the corporate interests is not necessarily what serves the interests of the public, especially on local level. As a consequence I am very suspicious of those politicians, who would waste an opportunity to maintain or improve local public resources/access, as to whose interests they are really serve.
PEG channels are good for the community. I urge you to vote for the public's interest not a corporation's."
9 comments:
I can't say that I agree with your assessment of the issue. I am a Bright House Networks employee. The way that the issue was described to me is that BHN is not trying to kill any existing PEG channel. In fact they are offering to keep these existing channels and add an on demand channel.
This is more than local government even deserves considering that polls I have seen show that 80 percent of cable subscribers don't even know what channel their PEG channels are on and wouldn't care if they were gone tomorrow.
What someone who is outside of the industry would not know is how limited bandwidth is for cable providers. The current three channels is worth millions more than it currently produces yet BHN is not trying to remove them.
Additionally, with the assumption that an On Demand format would marginalize content, I disagree. On demand would allow viewers to choose what particular program, meeting, etc that they would like to watch and they can watch it at their leisure with no need to tune into live meetings.
The main issue is not only would this cost cable customers more whether they use the PEG channels or not, but it would require getting rid of channels that actually do have viewers.
Hillsborough County, and City of Tampa cable customers are simply not willing to allow their bills to go higher. The same basic cable service in Pinellas County is roughly $10 less per month simply because of a better franchise agreement.
Don't get me wrong, I recognize the value of having access to local government, but not at the expense of people who are not even going to utilize these services. BHN has made a very generous offer with the On Demand channel and the county would be wise to accept this innovative format and recognize it for what it is, the future.
Additionally, it is disingenuous to associate a sound ethical, privately held company with the perpetrators of corporate malfeasance to make your point. This actually has the opposite effect as it exposes the straw man fallacy in your argument.
According to Brighthouse.com, Digital cable starts at $58.45/mo and Standard at $46.49/mo. I cannot find any mention of minimum service level to receive the "on demand" channels, though considering their nature I would be surprised if they didn't require digital access. Can anyone confirm or refute this? I cannot SEE any on-demand content listed below Digital on the tier listing, but I could be misreading it.
If it is true that a customer needs digital access to get the on-demand channels, then Brighthouse would be making roughly $12 more per customer per month as entry level for that type of "public access". (Obviously, those customers that exceed the entry level already won't pay more.)
Currently, the public channels are listed as Limited Basic. These channels are:
18 - Education Channel
19 - Public Access 2
20 - Public Access
21 - Education Channel 2
22 - HTV22 (Government Access)
I wonder if Brighthouse did a study on how many subscribers know what channels "on demand" are on? Until I read the list, I had no clue. I never use them. I do watch ARC and Variance board meetings, though. Maybe if I was forced to go to the on-demand area to watch those channels it would lead me to using more of the on-demand, pay-per-use content? $12 more per month AND a lead-in to pay-per-view content. That'd be good news for Brighthouse.
Two thoughts strike me here:
1) The county obviously controls the bandwidth to some extent. That bandwidth doesn't belong to the cable company, it belongs to the public and is leased or contracted out in some way. So if the county is going to release more space for the cable companies to use then I think it is fair to ask for something in return.
2) If Brighthouse is going to whine about it (and I'm pretty tired of the misleading commercials that claim the county is trying to raise rates on the consumer) I think the county should continue offering the public content on the cable channels AND for free computer download. Watch it on your PC, iPod, or cell phone. It works for Comedy Central and the Sci Fi channel. No need for Brighthouse at all.
On Demand channels are only provided to digital customers.
For what it is worth.. I do not subscribe to cable and don't plan to subscribe. I am sure there are alot of other people who don't subscribe for various reasons. One of those reasons is the cost. So swapping the public channels around on different levels of cable service , doesn't change access options for me or anyother non subscriber one bit. It just ups the ante once more and limits access to even fewer people. Public Acess TV reception should be provided regardless if you subscribe to cable or not, only then can it truly be accessible to all.
Having worked for one of the PEG channels, and having friends that are currently working for them, I hope I can provide some insight into just what goes on at PEG channels. Within the city of Tampa, there are 2 Public access, 2 Education and 2 Government channels. In the County there are 2 government, 1 Public access and 1 Education. Is there a need for more, you be the judge. Public Access ,CH.19&20, merely crosses over the same programming from one channel to another, neither channel has it's own identity. However, they do produce their own programming, very little is Satellite feed filler. They have the smallest budget of the PEG channels. Currently The Education Channel's 2nd channel "The Explorer Channel CH.21" is not even programmed. It is on one of a couple of Satellite feeds 24/7. Either NASA or Annenberg. They also run Classic Arts Showcase direct from satellite quite a bit on their main channel Ch.18. Most of their non-satellite programming is old public domain programming they get for free or at very low cost. They do a couple of in-studio shows and schoolboard meetings. Their annual operating budget is over 300,000/yr. They recently went before the Comission to ask for additional dollars for "improvements" in the millions of dollars, but were turned down. In contrast both the City of Tampa Television Ch.15 and Hillsborough TV Ch.22 fill 24/7 with mostly original local programming. Hillsborough County television has a large staff of near 20 and an annual budget of in the millions. The city of Tampa is smaller and so is their budget.
What it all boils down to is one question...Is there such a surplus of quality locally produced programming to justify adding more channels and cost to taxpayers? From what I have experienced, the answer is...not even close. So why the push for the extra channels? The answer as always is $$$$. The County comission is supposed take the money they receive from the cable franchise fees and distribute the dollars equaly amongst the PEG channels. Obviously they don't. Why? The Comission mandated that the money from these fees be put in the general tax couffers, and then they distribute what they see fit to the channels, the rest going into the general fund for other projects. They give their channel the most money. no surprise. However the combined annual operating funds of the all the channels falls well short of what the county takes in in franchise fees. If a new franchise isn't worked out, the county looses that money. But that won't happen, kicking Bright House out of town is a riduculous notion. The County is trying to strong arm Bright House to get more channels and more franchise money. New channels means more money into the general fund for the County. Your cable bill goes up, Rhonda gets more money to build roads in Brandon!
There is also something going on between the County and Verizon. Verizon wants to offer TV service, like in Pinellas, on its fiber optic lines they have been digging up all of South Tampa installing, but the County wants to charge them a franchise. Verizon is fighting that hard. We'll see where that one goes. Some choice other than satellite would be nice.
Those interested in an update of this issue might find this Vigil article helpful.
The county's cable advisory committee recommended 12 channels and a public benefit fund, and asked for more time to publicly review the contract. The commissioners decided on four channels, no public benefit fund, and no extra review time.
Yes you will need digital service. The good news is that all service will be digital in the near future.
I would like to know what you are talking about when you say "The county obviously controls the bandwidth to some extent. That bandwidth doesn't belong to the cable company, it belongs to the public and is leased or contracted out in some way. So if the county is going to release more space for the cable companies to use then I think it is fair to ask for something in return.
This is incorrect. Cable operates within the confines of the actualy cable. If what you said were true, cable would be free. The county controls no bandwidth, it is entirly controlled by the cable company, because they paid all the money to run all that fiber optic cable, and all that feeder to your house. What is inside that cable belongs to the cable company.
And to the person who thinks public access should be provided to even non-subscribers... why don't you try that line of reasoning with other aspects of your life. That is like saying you don't eat fast food and don't plan to but you think you are entitled to a couple Big Macs for free.
You people have no idea how much it cost to produce and maintain a cable network.
And to shawn, what is so misleading about saying that your cable bill will go up? It will. Bright House is a great company to work for and they provide services that are in line with the amount charged for them. A public service is being provided with PEG channels, since only like 5 people even watch them, and if it were up to me, I would pull the plug on them and put something on that valuable bandwidth that people would actually watch.
Bright House is a responsible company in the Tampa Bay area. There is hardly a community event that goes off without some sort of sponsorship from BHN, you have thousands of local people who work hard every day to give people the best value for their entertainment dollar. I would encourage those of you who have this irrational hatred for one of the region's largest employers to get some facts.
in exchange for a new cable TV franchise - a deal that could generate more than $1 billion for cable companies in a 10-year span.
I'm sure these franchise opportunities are very profitable. I'd like to start up franchise that deals with that.
The City and Verizon have negotiated a deal that will have a greater impact on our television watching and Internet usage than any other action the City or a company will take in the next 20 years – and you have been shut out of the discussion. The 6-billion-dollar deal (see my earlier post for background) to build a fiber optic network throughout the entire city was negotiated behind closed doors.
As part of the franchise approval process, the Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) is required to hold a public hearing. That meeting will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20, from 3-6pm at the New York City College of Technology, 285 Jay Street.
As far as I can tell, this is the first place this information has been posted online. This is another instance of a supposedly “public” meeting falling in the city where no one can hear it. Just because you don’t lock the doors doesn’t make the meeting public.
Cheers,
Adrianna
Franchise Network In Calgary
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