CC PACKET 11221989 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES NORTH SUBURBAN CABLE COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 5, 1989 PAGE 2 distribution. The penetration has gone up to over 40-1/27 with ` a significant number of subscribers on board. The telephone statistics still look good at under 3% most weeks. Ms. Donnelly-Cohen stated that they had invited the superintendents of the school districts of all the areas that the company serves and presented a program called Cable in the Classroom. She stated that the Roseville system probably uses cable in the classroom more than any of the other systems. She stated that there was a winter promotion going on for three months of any pay service for half price at $4.95 which has been very well received. VI. LATE FEE CHARGE Ms. Anderson explained that it had come to her attention that the cable company has raised its late fee from $2.00 to $2.50. She stated that the main reason for having this item on the agenda was to have the company get in the habit of notifying the commission of these charges and to remind the commission that these charges are regulatable. Mr. Creighton passed out an opinion he had done researching whether the commission could regulate these- fees at all and what regulations they might fall under. (Letter dated October 4, 1989 attached) . The franchise does require the company to notify the commission as to rates and charges and to give notice if there is to be a change in these charges. Ms. Anderson stated that the late fee policy began in 1987 about a year after North Central bought the company. The policy was never brought before the comission in the beginning, it was just assessed to the individuals right from the beginning. The late fee is supposed to be working when the people have a bill that is 30 days past due. In reality, the company is assessing the late fee when the bill is 15 days past due. Ms. Donnelly-Cohen stated that the subscribers do get a 30 day notification that the late fee is going up the following month. Ms. Donnelly-Cohen explained that the cable services are billed a month in advance so in essence a late fee is charged before a person has used the entire period of the product. She stated that the only time that a charge is not made in advance. is if a pay-per-view service is ordered and that will appear on the following months billing. She also stated that there are two cycles of .billing, one is from the first of the month to the 30th of the month and the other cycle is from the 15th of the month to the 15th of the next month.