Cable TV franchise contracts don't address rates or line-ups

To The Daily Sun,

This is in response to Scott Kipriotis's March 13 letter to the Sun:

I must address a misconception you have about cable TV franchises and the contracts that govern them. A franchise contract with a cable TV company does not award them a monopoly for the duration of the contract. Any competitor wishing to enter the market in a town already covered by a cable company can do so. That has been the case since the Communications Act of 1996 was passed by Congress.

Franchise contracts do not address cable rates or channel line-ups, nor should they, as these are more often than not covered under contracts with the content providers or under federal law. It is the contracts between the cable companies and the content providers (A&E, Discovery, Golf Channel, History, etc.) that determines both the price per subscriber, the location of the various channels within various programming tiers, and so-called niche channels. (Niche channels that are funded by cable subscribers even if no one watches them and are usually required to be carried by the content providers as a condition of carrying their prime programming.)

On another topic you mention, the looming merger of Comcast and Time-Warner, I must agree wholeheartedly. Creating "super providers" will work against consumers in the long run as it diminishes competition and that's always bad for the consumer.

In regards to MetroCast leasing lines from Comcast, I don't know if your prediction that Comcast will boost the costs of leasing those lines will come to be. There are more than a few companies out there leasing dark fiber (what I believe MetroCast is leasing from Comcast). So. if Comcast decides to boost their rates there's nothing stopping MetroCast from going elsewhere, or if it comes to that, building their own lines.

As to your experience with MetroCast's failure to address the problem with your e-mail account, I can suggest that you file a complaint with MetroCast and forward a copy of the complaint to the Laconia City Manager's office. After all, the city of Laconia won't automatically know about problems with MetroCast unless you tell them. Believe it or not, the various towns and cities want to know about complaints against the cable companies serving their municipalities. It gives them ammunition during contract negotiations and helps to ensure the cable company is living up to the terms of the franchise contract. (A caveat: most franchise agreements deal only with the video portion of a cable company's service. Since Internet service isn't regulated like that of video or phone service, there is little in most franchise contracts that covers it other than the company will provide it.)

Dale Channing Eddy

Gilford