Should county and towns buy the cable system?
Posted by David Boraks on October 25, 2006
Mecklenburg County and five towns north of Charlotte, including Davidson, are considering buying the cable system serving this area.
The proposal has grown out of the bankruptcy of the area’s former cable operator, Adelphia Cable. Under the cable system operating agreement, the county and towns have first crack at buying the system because of Adelphia’s bankruptcy.
Time Warner Cable has taken over management of the system until the purchase issue is resolved, and would own the system if the towns and county decide against buying it.
Does the proposal make sense?
Local officials have said little about the purchase, citing bankruptcy court restrictions on what they can discuss. But they’ve agreed to hold a public hearing next week.
The towns of Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Mooresville and Troutman, together with Mecklenburg County will hold a joint public forum on the proposal on Thursday, November 2, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Davidson I.B. Middle School auditorium. The school is at 251 South St. in Davidson.
According to a press release from the town of Davidson, local officials will be available to answer questions. It’s not clear how much they’ll be able to say, because of the court restrictions, but it will be a chance for us to learn more about the philosophy behind the deal and why they think it makes sense. Davidson officials said the court may loosen the restrictions so officials can provide more details about the proposal.
If you’re interested in the cable system, consider coming out to this meeting and finding out what this means to you.
Bob Maier said
Interesting that the there is a gag order on what amounts to creating a new public utility that affects every household in maybe 100 square miles. I think this is the same process Vladimir Putin is using in Russia. I have many questions.
This has been dragging on for years, with our cable money funding huge bankruptcy law firms to the tune of millions of dollars, most likely.
BTW, has anyone else noticed that customer service phone wait times, cable appointments and Internet speeds are about five times worse than when Adelphia ran the system?
One of my big questions is how the governments will manage it. They have a hard enough time getting two simple roundabouts done; do I want them handling tech support for sticky Internet issues?
On the other hand, if they can offer a la carte channel selections so I don’t have to pay for shopping, trash sports and fundamentalist religious channels, but can get BBC America, Bravo, IFC and the dozen or so channels I actually want, then it’s a most excellent idea.
Hopefully they can at least speak on those issues.
dboraks said
Some good issues, Bob. I’ve raised similar questions with the town staff. I too am concerned that the towns may not have the wherewhithal to operate the system up to acceptable standards. Will there be customer service problems? Will the towns be have the leverage to negotiate good deals for the programming we want? Will the choice of what program to offer be politicized?
In an email on Sept. 1, Town Manager Leamon Brice said officials who are studying the idea will not go forward with this if they can’t see a way to offer services that are up to industry standards. I appreciate his concern about that. Among other things, the towns would join a national consortium of cable providers who negotiate together for programming – to gain leverage.
He also noted that the towns and county do not plan to run the system themselves. Instead, they’ll try to hire an “experienced and creative company” to run the system. “This will live or die on customer service. Town employees would not run the sytem. We will hire someone that knows how to,” Brice told me.
Meanwhile, he also said that the towns feel they can run the system at “better rates than we have now.”
All in all, I thought Leamon Brice had thoughtful responses to my concerns. I look forward to hearing more at the hearing next week.
David
Alan Martin said
While there are legitimate concerns to be addressed, I agree that the towns should give this idea serious consideration. I grew up in Morganton, NC. Twenty years ago, Morganton became so fed up with the franchise running cable service in the city that it ended the franchise and set up its own system. The cable company was unhappy and there was years of litigation (including two trips to the US Supreme Court) as the company fought the town. The town prevailed. My parents still live there and have been very happy with their level of customer service and their low subscription rates. If the towns have the opportunity to buy the system out of backruptcy, it could be a tremendous boon.
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