Press Release
From: Valley VOTE
Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment
14622 Ventura Blvd. #424, Sherman Oaks, CA. 91403
December 19, 2005 Contact: Joe Vitti -President
Email: javittisr@cs.com (818) 366-1668
The Valley VOTE Board of Directors has approved recommended guidelines for the renewal of the L.A.'s Cable Franchise agreements. The eight recommendations are described briefly below and in greater detail in a position paper produced by Valley VOTE's Ad Hoc Committee on Cable Television Franchise Renewal that is attached to this Press Release
"The existing 15 cable television franchise agreements expired three years ago. It's about time that residents of this city received the benefit of a review and revision of the 18 year-old franchise agreements that govern our cable television services today," said Richard Bort, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee as well as Valley VOTE's Finance Committee.
Valley VOTE's recommended guidelines for Renewal of Cable TV Licenses
1. Basis for Renewal of Franchise Agreements - The City should use the Federal Telecommunications Act standard requiring that cable operators must meet the "needs and interests of the community taking into account the cost."
2. Franchise Term - Five years is an appropriate term for a cable television franchise, considering that technology, demographic, and business changes tend to make longer term agreements obsolete quickly.
3. Franchise Fees - The franchise agreements must define Gross Revenues, on which the franchise fee is based, in the broadest possible terms to include all forms and types of content (not just television programming) that flows through the cables.
4. Service Pricing - For channels not included in Basic Service, "cafeteria pricing" should be provided on a channel-by-channel basis. Current optional programming tiers are too large, forcing subscribers to pay for programming that they do not want in order to obtain their desired programming.
5. Service Levels - The cable operators must meet or exceed federal regulations regarding minimum service levels, and the City must enforce sanctions for failure to meet them. Such minimum service level standards should address minimum expected downtime, signal and set-top equipment quality, response times for installations, service modifications, and repairs, and response times for telephone access to customer service.
6. Community Access - The new franchise agreements should require the cable operators to provide "on-demand" access to all previously broadcast meetings of the City Council, City Commissions, neighborhood councils, panel discussions and other presentations of civic organizations, press conferences of City officials, and the like.
7. Privacy of Subscriber Information - The new franchise agreements should include a provision that enables cable subscribers to "opt out" of an operator's process of sharing personal information about the subscriber with any other company.
8. Wages and Benefits - Valley VOTE opposes any scheme that would impose on the cable operators any requirements to pay a "living wage" or any particular employee benefits not mandated by state or federal law.
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