|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cox Must Not Be Allowed to Negotiate Next Contract in Secret Two years ago Cox tried to
get rid of public access TV. Their efforts bypassed the prescribed ways of working
such things out through the Cable Television Advisory Committee; they even
ignored a compromise proposed by Deputy City Attorney Tom Mumgaard.
Instead, they conducted months of secret meetings with city officials,
starting with Councilman Jim Suttle, threw fairness
and the standards of public access in other communities out the window, and
succeeded in taking away all but three of the original 14 channels promised
to the city. The Omaha Reader reported
the matter more thoroughly than other media. To see their account click here. Our next city council and
mayor will negotiate Cox’s next contract, which Of course, the better way
would be to promise complete transparency. The public should not be shut out
this time. If you would like to help
lobby current city councilmen, as well as candidates for mayor and city
council, contact us. Only in “Basic” customers of Cox can
get channel 109 for an additional $5.25 per month They make you jump through flaming hoops, but it is possible to
get Cox to add 109 and 110 to your basic lineup for $5.25 per month. When you call to ask for the service, keep two things in mind:
Cox delays Democracy Now! There are four Cox affiliates that carry Democracy Now! on their
public access channels, Independent Television Omaha is conducting a survey to determine
whether any other cable franchise forces its Democracy Now! viewers to wait
and watch the show as a rerun. It is possible that What Cox Will
Do Next |
Just one more arrogant
theft Cox Removes IPTV From Basic Lineup Cox has taken another
channel off the basic lineup. First Public Access was moved to Digital
Siberia, now it’s Iowa Public TV. Viewers on both sides of
the river were shocked to find that IPTV, formerly on Cox 13, had
disappeared, when they tuned in on June 15. Activists investigating the loss,
report that IPTV was not consulted. As usual, the Omaha City Council, who in
theory enforce Cox’s contract, were not consulted. To those who have
more than basic service, the channel can be viewed, like Public Access, on
one of the digital channels. You have to pay more, of course. What Cox did was a
violation of its agreement with the city. According to the franchise
agreement, Cox cannot carry out a change in service without the permission of
City Council, and they have a high bar of proof to meet before the council
can give its ok. Usually, a study is supposed to be done first. Of course,
none of this happened. The language in the franchise that regulates changes
of service is in Article I, Sec. 6, Paragraph a. You can check this out
yourself by going to the bar on top of this page, click on “Cox &
Omaha.” From there, go to the franchise agreement. What Cox is doing is a pattern. But we can turn it
around if we take action. Contact City
Council and demand that both channels, Public
Access, and IPTV, be put back on the basic tier. Both changes violated the
franchise. Help hand out leaflets at the concert in Memorial
Park June 26. Meet at the bridge across Dodge between 4 and 5 pm. Call
Frances for updates. 402-208-3717 We can win this one for two reasons: City Council
has four new members, and Cox has some new leadership. Lessons For Next Mayor
and City Council The Franchise agreement of
1980, between What Cox is now positioned
to do is to control the Internet, and all other parts of broadband, the route
through which we will get virtually all information in the near future.
But back to Cox’s
partial success in choking off public access television: the cynics are
wondering if that round of dealings was a dress rehearsal for the upcoming
contract renegotiation. Three years ago, a group
of Omahans formed a consortium in order to make
better use of Public Access Television. They took the name Independent
Television Omaha. They learned that Cox had promised
the city 14 public access channels, and that the contract had not been
modified, nor had Cox’s obligation to provide the city with 14
channels. What followed was over a year
of stonewalling by Cox, and no real support from city officials. When Deputy
City Attorney Tom Mumgaard tried to resolve the
problem by proposing a compromise, Independent Television Omaha accepted his
proposal. That was August 2006. That should have been the end of the matter. But the stonewalling continued, this time with Cox and various city officials
meeting in secret to lay out a solution that was acceptable to Cox. The tail
was wagging a very willing dog. How long did the meetings
go on? Until Cox had gained enough support in city council to pass a
modification of the franchise that got them off the hook. It took from
August, 2006, until the last week of April, 2007, for this to happen. The
result was a change in rules that seriously undermined public access
television. (A brand new rule was also imposed, that public access must be
primarily locally produced. That rule required that two satellite
feed channels, Scola and the Catholic channel, be
called something other than public access. Presto! It happened. The Catholics
could have Mother Angelica on their satellite feed, but the rest of us would
be told to do without Democracy Now!) Another change happened at
the same time. The individual members of the public, and Independent
Television Omaha, were taken off the basic tier of service and moved to a
place where most viewers would fail to find them, digital channel 109. No one
considered the original provision in the franchise, not to mention FCC
standards, that
require that public access must be placed on the basic tier of service. The
franchise agreement is even more specific:
“All Public Access Programming shall be carried on the Universal
Tier (free tier) throughout the term of the franchise.” Addendum A, 9/4/80 Neither did anyone pay any
attention to another safeguard built into the original franchise: when Cox
requested changes that were more than just housekeeping, the city was to do a
study to determine the need and the likely outcome. No study was done. Cox got its way with the
City Council, and the changes were implemented late August, 2007. But the problems were only
getting started. The local producers on the old channel 23 had lost their
soapbox, because very few of the old viewers were able to get 109. The
unfairness and inadequacy of it was constantly raised at CTAC meetings. The
producers also were having trouble producing their shows because Cox had
eliminated all but one production studio, and that studio had only one room
where recording could happen. It was also open only 3 days a week. The process of resolving
such problems was ineffective. CTAC, The all-volunteer committee whose job it
was to take care of such complaints, was powerless and only met once a month.
Frustrations mounted. Perhaps the prospect of The producers, realizing
that there was more at stake than public access television, are now calling
for a commitment from every incumbent city office holder, as well as from
every candidate, to learn from this messy history. They are asking all
present office holders and candidates to refuse secret meetings with Cox, and
to strictly follow all procedures in the franchise, especially during the
upcoming contract negotiations. And, of course, the
existing mess has to be cleaned up. City Council must force Cox to do what
the franchise requires, put public access back on the basic tier, and restore
at least one of the public access studios that they took away. Now that Cox’s Contract is Up for Renewal Broadband, particularly at high data speeds, is a powerful driver of robust economic development. It multiplies outcomes in: Education, Public Safety, Homeland Security, Health Care, Telework, Environmental Sustainability, Urban Revitalization, Government Service, and, of course, Entertainment http://www.e-nc.org/Baller-Herbst_Report.asp Although the Contact your senator and congressman and ask for a better national broadband policy. On the local level, Go here to see what a good franchise
agreement looks like http://www.buskegroup.com/html/franchise_agreements.html Cox Attacks Net
Neutrality Hey, Cox:
Stop Trying to Play God with the Internet PC World,
January 28, 2009 http://www.freepress.net/node/47674 Here is what others are saying about Cox and net neutrality. >http://www.freepress.net/taxonomy/term/3778 Here is what our friend Tony has to say: You realize what this is all about, don't you? *******************************************************************************************
|