05-08-2013 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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• In reality, the PEG fee has no effect on Comcast's competitiveness against satellite providers, as evidenced by the company's most recent 2013 rate filing for the basic service tier. In that filing, Comcast is proposing to increase its basic service rate by 12 % a change that is well in excess of inflation and shows that Comcast is unconcerned about competitive pressures from other multichannel video programming distributors. 4. Comcast: We don't provide free institutional networks to local governments anymore; we only provide managed services networks for a fee. The Institutional Network, or I -Net, is a combination of fiber (paid for by subscribers under the 1998 cable franchise) connecting the NSCC /CTV building and the ten city halls, along with a legacy coaxial cable +fiber, or hybrid fiber -coax (HFC), network that provides two -way connections enabling the routing of video programming to and from CTV's master control for distribution over Comcast's cable system. It is also used to transmit data services, such as Internet connections, e -mail service, and other local government data and shared services, between and among the cities and NSCC /CTV. The I -Net is connected by cable company fiber to Institutional Networks of other cities and franchising authorities, enabling the sharing of locally - produced programming throughout the metropolitan area. The attributed cost ($567,000 +) of the three pairs of fibers set aside for the I -Net were paid for by subscribers through the PEG fee. The users of the I -Net (the cities, schools, libraries and NSCC /NSAC) provided their own equipment to connect to and manage the network, and city and NSCC /CTV staff oversee and maintain the network. As a result, the cost to Comcast to provide the I -Net is very small. However, the benefits to the NSCC /CTV and the member cities, such as substantial cost - savings, are significant. The issue is that, in recent years, cable companies have decided they want to be more than about "entertainment," and they have begun to compete with the legacy telephone companies in providing managed data services over their networks. They see local government as potential customers from which they can make more money.