11-22-1999 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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MACTA SURVEY SUMMARY October 1999 1. Number of Respondents Cities 250 Commissions 11 Total 261 2. Number of cable subscribers Almost half (48.4 %) of the respondents had less than 500 subscribers. Another 28.4% had between 500 and 3,000 subscribers. 3. Number of complaints Of the respondents, 159, or 61 %, handle customer complaints and inquiries. They reported a total of 3,541 complaints received in 1998, and 3,346 in the first seven months of 1999. 4. Amount of franchise fees The total amount of franchise fees reported by the 261 respondents was $18,940,418. Although most of this income went into the general fund, a significant amount was also used for franchise administration and community access programming. 5. Additional support Although the majority of respondents do not receive additional support for community television, the ones who do (predominantly cities in joint power commissions) receive nearly $4 million in operating grants and $7.4 million in equipment grants. 6. Institutional Networks The majority of respondents do not have Institutional Networks, but those who do use them to connect 570 institutions, including city and school buildings, county facilities, non - profits and even some businesses. Although these I -Nets are used primarily to transmit video, over a third of those with (- Nets also use them to transmit data and /or provide Internet access. . ....... 7. Telecommunications Convergence Thirty -five of the respondents reported that their cable company also provides Internet access, with another 34 who said the company plans to offer this service in the next two years.. Seventeen respondents said their - _:.. cable company currently offers local telephone service, while 15 indicated that the company would offer this service within the next two years. Page 84