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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/21/1992 - Special Minutes City Council MINUTES CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING JOINT SESSION WITH CrlT OF ~ JANUARY ~1, 199~ Mayor Ringer, Counciimembers Brown, Schneider, McILhaney, Birdwell, Crouch Councilman Jim Gardner STAFT PRESENT: Ex~ Director Management Services Piwoa~, City Attorney Locke, City Secretary Hooks, Assistant City Manager Woody _Aaenda Item No. 1 - Call to Order. Mayor Ringer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Agenda Item No. 2 - Osen sttbllc hearlna belne coaducted under the ~ of the C~,h~e Act of 1984 f~ *~_e _sttmo___~e of ~ ~ _,~_ -ens and custom__,~s ~ C~_tm_~ to ~ ~___~,4.~ c_~__c_~ns, co_~l~-i,tts, and d _-_.?Ires r,~1~'1~E to ~_.d_~ cable service. Mayor Tate introduced Ms. Mary Kay Moore, Bryan Interim City Manager. Mrs. Moore explained that the purpose of the public hearing was to obtain input from the citizens of Bryan and College Station in order that the two cities could use that information when the cable refranchising process begins. She explained the hearing procedures and introduced Larry Monroe and Michael Hunt of the f'u'm Municon, the cities' consultant assisting in the cable refranchising procedure, and Randy Rogers, General Manager of TCA Cable, who introduced TCA officers, board members, and legal counsel. _Aaenda Item No. 3 - Opening Statements. Mr. Rogers began his remarks by providing his office telephone number and a written statement to be entered into the record. He then stated that TCA' had been operating in Bryan-College Station for two and one-half years and had improved the quality of cable service in the area. He stated that TCA was present to provide evidence of compliance with the terms of the current cable franchise agreement and to obtain citizen comments. Mr. Rogers then stated that TCA had increased its staff by 50 percent, expanded service hours, increased focus on quality, provided free repair service, improved reception on the local channel, improved response to service requests, installed a City Council Special Meeting Tuesday, January 21, 1992 Page 2 state-of-the-art computerized phone system to respond to customer calls, and provided a subscriber choice on certain channels such as MTV. Hen then stated that all of these improvements had been provided with no increase in customer costs and that basic rates had not increased since TCA began operations in the convnunity. Item No. 4 - Receive written st~t~_ ts from the Mrs. Moore then introduced Linda Piwonka, Executive Director of Management Services for the City of College Station and stated that citizens could submit written comments to either City Manager's offices prior to the next public hearing to be conducted on February 6. Mrs. Moore then invited citizens to introduce written statements into the record. The following citizens read written statements, which have been filed as part of the record of the refranchising procedure, into the record: Assistant Police Chief Lee Freeman, City of Bryan, read a statement from Chief of Police Charles Phelps that addressed the needs for a training channel for citizens and other public safety agencies and an emergency warning system for area residents. Ms. Clara Mounce, Bryan City Librarian, Bryan-College Station Public Library System, spoke to the possibilities in the areas of education and research that could be made available to citizens through the cable system. Mr. Dan Wilkerson, Director of Utilities Services, City of Bryan, stated that a communication link between Bryan Utilities and their customers for demand side load management and utility billing information, and comm~cation links for capacitor switching, automated meter reading, and remote controlled switching were areas that Bryan Utilities would like to see considered in the upcoming cable refranchising procedure. Mr. Paul E. Williams, 1204 Skrivanek, Bryan, complimented the quality of cablevision in Bryan. He asked TCA to consider more weekend monitoring and a flat rate for providing cable service to a home with as many outlets as the resident desired. Mr. Rogers replied that TCA was responsible to the FCC for regulations that address "signal leakage" and that was one reason TCA does not offer the flat rate. He outlined the hours that the business office and repair lines were open during the evenings and weekends. Ms. Piwonka then entered written statements received by marl into the record. A letter from Mr. Jake Cangelose, Brazos County Civil Defense, made the following recommendations: backup emergency power for cable operations; video access system for local government channel to broadcast programs on public safety, preparedness, weather, etc.; and the use of the cable system for emergency City Council Special Meeting Tuesday, January 21, 1992 Page 3 warnings/instructions. A letter from Claude Cunningham, College Station Independent School District, listed several areas regarding the use of cable for educational purposes. The Assistant Executive Director of Humana Hospital- Brazos Valley, Kevtn Cogan, had submitted a letter addressing numerous health care related uses for cable technology. A memorandum from Ms. Piwonka and Mrs. Moore addressing the cities' interest in a fiber optic instructional network, a strategicany placed community wide fiber optic backbone, informational programming, and a community wide emergency alert system was also introduced into the record. _Aaenda Item No. 5 - Other conunants and/~ questions fh~m the public. Mr. Bob Barker, 3711 East 29th Street, Bryan, stated that the current franchise agreement states that the educational access channel shall be made available to the public schools at no charge. He stated that the cable company had turned the management of that channel over to KAMU-TV which charges approximately $1.00 per minute to broadcast over that channel. As a result, many programs produced by the schools have not ben aired. He stated this was unfair to the schools and requested that the school systems have access to the channel or each be provided their own channel. Mr. David Panak, Lodgepole in Conege Station thanked TCA for their excenent service and picture. He asked TCA to take a stand against pornographic and violent content in their programming and asked what TCA's position was regarding those issues. Mr. Rogers replied that the MTV situation was an example of TCA's stand to give people a choice as to what comes into their homes; TCA does not broadcast "x-rated" type programming. Mr. Don Rice, 2703 Rustling Oaks, Bryan, stated that he and his wife were very concerned over TCA's attitude towards multiple rates and multiple televisions. He stated he felt it was an infringement on their rights for the cable company to tell his family in which rooms they could watch television. He referred to the phone company providing service to a home but allowing the resident to use a telephone in any room in the home. Mr. Rogers responded that he could not provide an answer at this time, but that TCA would giver consideration to the request. Mr. Rice then stated that it was apparent that the cities and educational institutions needed a fiber optic cable system. He recommended that if TCA does not respond to the requests, the two cities put in a fiber optic backbone and provide cable service to area residents. He stated that the cities could provide all the public services for free with a basic one-fee sum charged to the public. He stated he wanted to go on record that if TCA does not change its stance, the public would like to see them have a competitor or not operate in the community. City Council Special Meeting Tuesday, January 21, 1992 Page 4 Mr. Larry Monroe, consultant with Municon, asked Mr. Rogers several questions to which Mr. Rogers responded. Mr. Monroe asked what type of status monitoring capabilities the system currently utter, ed; Mr. Rogers replied there was no current electronic monitoring system. Mr. Rogers reported that TCA learns about service outages through customer phone calls. Mr. Monroe asked how the company detected developing problems before they become a crisis or result in a service outage; Mr. Rogers replied that TCA follows a regular preventative maintenance program. Mr. Monroe complimented TCA stating that their office and telephone hours were above the standard for the cable industry. Mr. Rogers explained the conditions that would precipitate a night or weekend service call. Mr. Rogers explained how customers were charged for additional outlets and converters. Mr. Rogers reported that TCA had interviewed Texas A&M University and College Station Independent School District representatives regarding cable needs. He stated it was their intent to solicit input from the two cities as well. Mr. Monroe asked Mr. Rogers to explain TCA's position regarding airing and and/or charging for programming on the educational access channel. Mr. Rogers replied that the educational access channel basically originates out of the KAMU studios and is microwaved to TCA's head- ins. He stated it was his understanding that the charge was for labor to insert, play, and remove tapes at the KAMU studios. He stated that KAMU is not acting as a delegate of TCA's, but is one of the three entities that use the educational access channel. Mr. Barker again addressed the Councils stating that KAMU uses their master control operator to insert the tapes and that there were no additional costs to KAMU for doing so. Mr. Monroe continued his questions posed to Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers reported that an "AB" switch is required for subscribers to watch one program and tape another simultaneously. TCA provides and installs the switches. Mr. Monroe asked if TCA had plans to upgrade the system or add channel capacity. Mr. Rogers replied that TCA is listening to public input and will address this issue in their proposal. Mr. Rogers reported that TCA had begun experimenting with fiber technology in several different areas. He stated he could see that fiber optics would definitely play a role in the future of Bryan/College Station. Mr. Rogers stated that input was being solicited regarding an institutional network and that it would be considered in light of the costs involved. Ms. Charlene Clark, 2304 Burton Drive, Bryan, encouraged TCA to add more family and religious type programming. Mr. Jeff Haislett, Director of the 911 District, asked that weather alerting for the public, emergency notification to public safety agencies, training/educational programming into residences and schools, access to community activities for the disabled, and security monitoring of public facilities in a cost effective manner be considered by a progressive cable company that can help attract Mgh technology industry to the community. City Council Special Meeting Tuesday, January 21, 1992 Page Mr. Don Gilman, 4405 Warwick, Bryan, stated he preferred a single fee for cable service to his home. He stated he also agreed that there was a need for civil defense applications across all the channels. He also asked if there was a list of services provided by cable companies in other communities available for public inspection. Mr. Rogers replied that there was discussion in Congress regarding allowing telephone companies access to the cable industry. He stated TCA believes in providing quality service for a fair price. He pointed out that anything that adds cost must be passed along to the consumer. Mr. Monroe informed Mr. Gilman that TCA had submitted a comparison of services and r~tes throughout Central Texas that will be made a part of the refranchising process record. He also stated that it is inevitable that the cable industry will become a primary provider of local telecommunications in the future. Agend~ Item No. 6 - Adjourn. There being no further persons wishing to address the Councils, the Mayor adjourned the public hearing at 8:06 p.m. stating that another public hearing would be conducted on February 6, 1999., at 7:00 p.m. in the College Station Conference Center, George Bush Drive, College Station, Texas. Mayor Tate thanked the audience for attending and stated that written comments would be received in the offices of the City Managers of Bryan and College Station prior to the next hearing. C~ Secretary Conme Hooks APPROVED: B P. O. BOX 1000 · BFIYAN, TEXAS 77805 · (409) Mary Kaye Moore, Interim City Manager Connie Hooks, College Station City Secretary Randy PDgers, TCA Cable Larry Monroe, Municon Mary Lynne Galloway, City Secretary ~~ January 22, 1992 Statements Entered into the Record at January 21 Public Hearing Attached are copies of the written statements entered into the record at the public hearing conducted on January 21, 1992, 7:00 p.m., at the Brazos Center, with the exception of the statement handed out by TCA Cable Company.- Charles W. Phelps, Chief of Police, City of Bryan (presented by Assistant Chief of Police Lee Freeman) Clara B. Mounce, City Librarian, City of Bryan, Bryan-College Station Public Library System Dan Wilkerson, Director of Utilities Services, City of Bryan Paul E. Williams, 1204 Skrivanek, Bryan Jake Cangelose, Civil Defense Coordinator, Brazos County Claude H. Cunningham, Director of Administration and Planning, College Station Independent School District Kevin Cogan, Assistant Executive Director, Humana Hospital-Brazos Valley, College Station Linda S.Piwonka, Executive Director, City of College Station, and Mary Kaye Moore, InterimCityManager, City of Bryan Enclosures TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: MEMORANDUM Mary Kaye Moore, Interim City Manager Charles W. Phelps, Chief of Police January 21, 1992 Joint Cable Heating Police #1 Services p. resents the following ideas concerning cable and our department. USING CABLE AS A TRAINING TOOL Police Services could use cable to present training programs to other agencies, the public, its employees and officers. Training classes could be televised live or taped. Individuals could access training to view at their convenience. Police Services could receive nation wide training through cable. INTERACTION TO COMMUNICATE CRIME PREVENTION TECHNIQUES A database could be set up through cable for the public to select a particular subject to view. Specialized training topics would be set up in this database so business owners could discuss specific topics with employees. Families could read about safety tips on crime prevention. Surveys could be given on cable. Through these surveys, Crime Prevention Officers could obtain feedback through scoring the surveys to see where additional training may be needed in the community. The public could interact through cable to ask questions on different topics. Crimebyte, the police computer bulletin board, could be expanded to include cable access. ALARM SYSTEMS THROUGH CABLE When an alarm goes off, cable could activate a camera to view inside the alarm location. This would give the officer the ability to see where the burglar is before entering the sight. 9-1-1 dispatcher could view the location and give details to officers. This would be excellent crime surveillance. PUBLIC SAFETY CHANNEL A channel could be used for local agencies to provide information on a 24 hour basis to the public. Programming could consist of crime prevention training (taped) live panel discussions, public awareness programming, etc. Billboard information could scroll, schedules and other information in the absence of other programming. #5 EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION THROUGH CABLE Interact with the public through cable for broadcast of emergencies. Display a message on all cable channels. Create an alert system on the cable box to notify the citizen to turn the television on for an emergency message. Have the capability for the area cable office to turn televisions on to broadcast emergency messages, regardless if a television is on or off. Block all television programs for a specific individual to announce emergency broadcasts. Block cable in certain areas of the city where there is an emergency. Be able to notify emergencies to employees, officers and city personnel through cable. INTERACTION WITH COMMUNICATION Citizens could file various types of offense reports, give information for a house check, pay a traffic fine, etc. through cable. Instead of the individual coming to the police department or calling, they could interact through cable. A keyboard could be set up with a cable box for interaction. Employees of Police Services could speak to individuals through cable face to face when taking this information. ESTABLISH RATING CEILING ON ALL CABLE CHANNEL PROGRAMS (SIMILAR TO SATELLITE TELEVISION CAPABILITIES) Have the capability to block television programs through cable based on a rating system. This would allow a parent to better control family viewing based on language, violence, sex and nudity without having to preview the programs. All they would have to do would be to set their preferred rating ceiling. If programmers found their programming was being censored at home they might re-think all the violence, sex and language. Charles W. Phelps, Chief of Police Police Services CWP/cw Jan. 21, 1992 The Bryan/Co!~ege Public Library System has future plans to offer school age children courses in genealogical research and local history. These courses would be ideal for a locally produced program through public access cable channels. Several times a year the puppet productions and su~r reading club programs could be shown on public access cable. The cable franchise would provide the costs of equipment and production of such library programs. Bryan Utilities would like to see the following services considered for its use in the upcoming cable franchise agreement: Communication link between utility and all customers for demand side load management. Communication between utility office and approximately one hundred locations for capacitor switching. Communication between the utility office and all customers for automated meter reading. Communication between the dispatch office and approximately two hundred field switches for remote controlled switching. Communication link with every customer for the purpose of displaying utility billing information on the customer's T.V. set. In addition the City of Bryan would like the ability to have two- way communication with all cable customers for assembling information, such as polling residences on critical issues. MAYOR MAYOR PRO-TEM Fred Brown CITY MANAGF_,R Rcm Ragland Jim Gardn~ Dick BirdwaU. Vemon $c~-e~der Nancy Crouch AGENDA SPECIAL MEETING JOINT SESSION BRYAN CITY COUNCIL COLLEGE STATION CITY COUNCIL TUESD~Yv JANUARY 21v 1992 B~A~.OS CENTER, 3232 BRIARCREST DRIVE~ BRYANv TEXAS 7:00 P.M. Call to Order Open public hearing being conducted under the terms of the Cable Act of 1984 for the purpose of providing the citizens and customers of both Bryan and College Station an opportunity to appear before the City Councils to express needs, concerns, complaints, and desires relating to their cable service Opening Statements Receive written statements from the public Other comments and/or questions from the public Adjourn until February 6, 1992, 7:00 p.m., College Station Conference Center,' George Bush Drive, College Station, Texas. Written comments will be received in the offices of the City Managers of Bryan and College Station in the interim. BRAZOS COUNTY JAKE CANGLOSE INTERJURISDICTIONAL COORDINATOR & CHAIRMAN STEVE BEACHY COU. EGE STATION COORDINATOR INTERJURISDICTIONAL OFFICE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT/CML DEFENSE COUNTY COURTHOUSE 300 EAST 26TH STREET, ROOM 103 BRYAN, TEXAS 77803-5359 (409) 361-4140 December 16, 1991 MARY KAYE MOORE BRYAN COORDINATOR HARRY STITELER TAMU COORDINATOR Ms. Linda Piwonka Executive Director Management Services Group City of College Station P. O. Box 9960 College Station, Texas 77842 Dear Linda: Thank you for inviting me to the seminar on current and future cable technology regarding our future communication needs. I would like to make the following recommendations, if feasible, in the priorities listed. 1. Back-up emergency power for the cable operations. 2. A video access system for our local government channel so that we can broadcast video programs on public safety, preparedness, weather safety, etc. 3. Exploring the possibility of using the cable system for emergency warnings and emergency instructions. I feel that these three items should be high on our list for consideration. Thank you again for contacting us. /Jake Canglos~/ ~'- / Brazos County In'~Tjurisdictional f Emergency Management/Civil Defense Coordinator JC:cpc cc: Mary Kaye Moore BRAZOS COUNTY BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3T=XAS A&M UNIVERSITY '. - iL'-Y College Station Independent School District Excellence in Education--An Investment In The Future January 15, 1992 Linda Piwonka, Executive Director Management Services Group City of College Station P.O. Box 9960 College Station, TX 77842 Dear Ms. Piwonka: This letter is to provide you with a concise listing of future applications of cable which are of interest to the College Station Independent School District. After our meeting this morning, our interests in the future applications of cable technology in the Bryan/College Station area have begun to crystallize. We heard many things we wanted to hear today, and found that many of our interests are widely held. To keep this letter to a minimum length, I will simply give you a listing of our interests and concerns. We hope that these will receive high priority consideration in the franchise negotiation process. Our communications with other school districts in Texas indicate that many of them receive far greater support from their local cable supplier than do we. The sky, or the negotiator's determination, appears to be the only limiting factor in what can actually be provided. The specific interests and concerns of the College Station Independent School are: * availability of facilities, equipment and technical assistance to produce local programming; specifically, studio facilities, character generation and post production equipment; * ability to load programming directly onto the cable system from one or more of our sites; 1812 Welsh Street College Station, TX 77840 409-764-5400 Ray L. Chancellor Superintendent * a channel for public school districts separate from that (or those) provided to private and higher education; * ability to broadcast live, or on a delay basis, directly from our sites to the entire system or to other school sites; * establishment of a local institutional network connecting all our sites on more than one level, i.e. communication and data transmission; * ability to connect with the institutional networks of the city, Bryan I.S.D., Blinn College, TAMU and others, for shared programming; * inclusion of some sort of emergency alert system through the cable network; * adding other services which are now available through satellite down-link, such as, high school and college credit courses, library and news service access; and finally, * some way of connecting the access channel used by the school district to those residents who are not cable subscribers. We have many interests and concerns related to cable, as you can see. I will be present at the February 6 public hearing to present many of these interests and concerns. I have attached a draft of my public statement for your information. It may be altered a bit, but it is very nearly in its final form. Should you need any information from me regarding the district's interest in the cable franchising process, please do not hesitate to call, 764-5454. Sincerely, / ~. · Claude H. Cunningham, Ed..E~ Director of Administration and Planning CHC/ka Attachments cc: Ray Chancellor PUBLIC STATEMENT: FUTURE APPLICATIONS OF CABLE Good morning. I am Claude Cunningham, Director of Administration and Planning for the College Station Independent School District. I am here today wearing my "planning hat" to share with you and TC^ our input for possible cable uses in the near future and for a few years down the line. As a small school district, our needs for access to cable are different from those of larger public entities. We hope that you will keep this in mind during this brief statement. There are several things that we would like to see implemented by TCA in the very near future. First, we would like to have direct access to character generation equipment and the ability to load tapes and other information through a direct line between one of our sites and TCA. At this time, we must take our information to a third party to be translated into video characters and to be loaded to TCA. We have to pay for these services by the third party. Ideally, these services would be available at one of our sites but any reasonable central location would be acceptable. College Station I.S.D. presently shares one local access channel provided to us by TCA with both Bryan I.S.D. and Texas A & M. It would be naive to assume that Blinn College and our local private schools will never request access to TCA Cable. One channel is very busy now and adding other educational organizations to this one channel would make the situation worse. We would like to see one channel on the cable system dedicated to the public schools and another made available to private and higher education. At earlier meetings related to cable systems, we have been shown emergency alert systems which work through the existing or upgraded cable network. We would be most interested in seeing such a system made a part of our cable network. We believe that such systems hold great promise for the enhancement of the safety and security of our community. Having such a system available would allow us to notify parents of school closings or other emergency situations which might affect their children. The College Station Independent School District is a relatively small school district. Within the next three to five years, we do not expect that our student body will have the need for, nor will it generate the revenue for, the facilities needed to produce truly broadcast quality materials for use on cable television. This puts us at a distinct disadvantage when our cable broadcasts are compared to those of Texas A&M and Bryan I.S.D. To put our district on more equal footing with our larger neighbors, we would like access to a centrally located studio and production facility. Once again, in a perfect world this facility would be at one of our sites. However, access on a scheduled basis into such a facility would go a long way toward providing our school district access equal to that of our larger neighbors. We also would benefit greatly from a direct line between one of our sites and the TCA head-in through which we could send programming once it is ready for broadcast. There are some other services which we would like to see included in TCA's future planning. We firmly believe that local programming will be of growing interest in this community. The school broadcast live, or on delay, directly from our interest to us and to our There are other satellite ability to district sites will be of great constituencies in the future. transmitted services which should be available to our community through our local cable system. college credit courses, personnel training, High school and libraries and news services can all be accessed through satellite downlinks. We would be most interested in having such services available to our students in College Station. The College Station I.S.D. is very interested in exploring with TCA the possibility our campuses. communication provide control links between our Maintenance Department and the operating systems in our buildings. This application of cable will require significant upgrading of the present system, but the technology exists. of setting up an institutional network among Such a network could provide data and transmission among our campuses. It also could The relationship Independent School District is a good one. expanding this relationship in the future. needs of the school district and those of between TCA and the College Station We look forward to We trust that the our students will receive high priority consideration in the process of developing the new cable franchise in the College Station/Bryan area. Thank you. P 0 Box ~OC~) 1604 Rock Prairie Road College S[a~lor,, Texas 77~40 Tel,3phcne 409 764-5100 P'. ,,-"/c:: 4,1umana° Hospital Brazos Valley January 20, 1992 City of College Station P. O. Box 9960 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, Texas 77842-0690 Dear Sirs, Humana Hospital-Brazos Valley takes pride in its commitment to corporate citizenship. We wish to continue our community involvement through participation in the development of appropriate uses of Cable Technology in the Brazos Valley. Depending on the cost of ~hese Cable Services, we at Humana Hospi~al-Brazos Valley may be interested in pursuing time sharing of Cable Services in the near future. We believe ~here are numerous Healthcare Related uses for Cable Technology. These functions include but are not limited Professional Education, Allied Health-Professional Eduoation, Co~unity Education, Home Health/Follow-up Care, Civil Defense, Tele-Conferencing, Telemetry, Inter- and Intra-Departmental Data Links, and Satellite Links to Academic Medical Centers. In summary, we at Humana Hospital-Brazos Valley support ~he development of Cable Technology in the Brazos Valley. Sincerely, Kevin Cogan Assistant Executive Director KC: sb SA:BCSC Bg, ,AN P.O. Box 1000 Bryan, Texas 77805 (4O9) 361-3600 City of College Station ~,,~' P.O. Box 9960 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, Texas 77842-0690 (409) 764-35O0 MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: DATE: RE: Honorable Mayors and City Councils Linda S. Piwonka, Executive Director City of College Station Mary K. Moore, Acting City Manager.,~^ City of Bryan , January 21, 1992 Communication Needs, and Desires As the two cities plan for the future there are several areas in which we see the need for improvement in our abilities to communicate both internally and externally. The following is a very brief summary of several items the management of the two cities see as possible opportunities for improvement. The references to fiber optics are made based upon knowledge of current technologies available to address our needs. However, should further advances in technology occur those should be considered. 1. Fiber optic institutional networks. The cities have multiple facilities with computer systems and other equipment that need to be linked together. Training of employees and internal communications could be greatly improved by broadcasting training via institutional networks. This would provide a convenient and productive means of fulfilling required and continuing education of the city work force. We are interested in controlling public facilities electrical consumption, by monitoring and controlling equipment housed in these decentralized facilities. w A strategically placed community-wide fiber optic backbone: Both cities are public power cities and are interested in investigating remote meter reading, and the remote connection and disconnection of individual customer's services. Mayors & City Councils January 21, 1992 Page Two Library services in the communities could be enhanced via the sharing of information on the collections held by both cities and school libraries. We would like to have coordinated control of the traffic signals throughout the community. The cities are Interested in expanding the use of their information channels. To do this we will need production capabilities as well as assistance with program coordination and technical assistance. Such things as broadcasting of Council meetings, video programs regarding services provided by the cities, and 24-hour City Hall capabilities, are also desired. The current equipment used to produce the character generated information on the cities' channel appears to be old technology, we would like to see this equipment brought up to date. We currently do not have the capability to run a video application on our channel from a remote location. The cable company must insert the tape at the head-in. We would like to see this changed. A community-wide emergency alert system is needed. Again, this information is provided as a summary of needs, and is listed in random order. It should be noted that College Station is currently putting together a comprehensive Communications Plan that will address in-depth our needs and others that may be excluded from this memo. We would ask that the record indicate upon completion of such study that any other needs not listed herein that are deemed appropriate be included as potential considerations during the cable re-franchising process. Basic Services Team, City of College Station Directors, City of Bryan CABLE TV 4114 East 29th Street · Bryan, TX 77802 ° (409) 846-2229 January 17, 1992 City Council City of Bryan, City of College Station RE: Renewal of TCA Cable Television Franchises for the Cities of Colleqe Station and Bryan, Texa~ Dear Ladies and Gentlemen: Texas Telecable, Inc. ("TCA") is pleased to participate in this proceeding which has been established by the Cities of Bryan and College Station, Texas to afford the public the opportunity to identify the future cable related community needs and interests and to review the performance of TCA under its franchises during its current franchise term. As you are aware, the City of Bryan, pursuant to Ordinance No. 1836, and the City of College Station pursuant to Ordinance No. 1828, approved the transfer of the cable television systems at Bryan and College Station to TCA and that on October 1, 1989, TCA completed its acquisition of said cable system. By letter August 19, 1991, TCA was advised by both Cities that they were initiating renewal proceedings pursuant to Section 626(a) of the Cable Act. Pursuant to Section 626 of the Cable Act, the purpose of these proceedings is to (i) identify the future cable related community needs and interests; and (ii) review the performance of TCA under the franchise during its then current term. As part of this proceeding, TCA submits the following to assist the franchising authorities in their review of TCA's past performance. Prior to TCA's acquisition of the system, subscribers received service from a parade of operators that provided inconsistent service that was not responsive to customer needs. TCA's acquisition of the systems brought a new attitude towards customer service. TCA has improved customer service, installed new telephone systems, considered customer desires in establishing the programming line-up, constructed a new business office and service center, and hired customer-oriented employees. All these improvements have been provided with no increase in city of Bryan, City of College Station January 17, 1992 Page -2- basic rates. TCA has not only substantially complied with each material term of the franchise, it has brought a new level of superior cable service to the communities. I~PROVE~ENTS IN ~STON~_ SERVICE. Even though not explicitly required by the franchise, TCA has radically improved the quality of cable service in the area. TCA has added seventeen full-time local service employees since its acquisition. This is a 50% increase in the number of employees. These additional employees have allowed for expanded hours and an increase in attention to quality. Installations and repair calls are now done until 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays. All repair service is free. While 90% of all repairs are done within 24 hours, any service interruption call received prior to 7:00 p.m. is responded to the same day. For years, subscribers to this system have had a problem with reception of KBTX on Channel 3. TCA has fixed this problem and generally improved the quality of all the signals delivered to subscribers. TCA strongly encourages customers to call if they experience any problems with their picture quality. TCA does this to keep signal quality at its best. While much of the industry is bragging about special promotions that provide for immediate installs, TCA's standards policy has been to complete installations within two days of request. In fact, installations have never taken longer then a week. TCA receives a tremendous number of requests for installation at the beginning of the school year. Even during this peak period, installations have not taken longer than a week. We have corporate commitment to "Keep quality control in all operations." A strict quality control program has been instituted because we have determined, in over 37 years of cable operations, that inspection results in meeting expectations. Procedures performed on a monthly basis to insure consistency and reliability include physically inspecting a percentage of employees' orders to assure compliance with TCA standards. To ensure customer satisfaction, after every service call and installation is completed, TCA calls back each customer and asks if the service was to their satisfaction. This promotes service that is not just to TCA's satisfaction, but more importantly, to the customers' satisfaction. TCA is fully aware that the primary contact that its subscribers have with it is through its phone system. One of the primary complaints of other cable systems is the inability to reach the cable operator. TCA has solved this problem by installing a brand new telephone system. This has allowed for efficient call distribution and minimal customer hold time. TCA's experience with this new phone system has resulted in 85% City of Bryan, City of College Station January 17, 1992 Page -3- of all customer calls being answered within 30 seconds and with less than 3% of all calls getting a busy signal. On-screen monitoring allows supervisors to direct personnel efficiently when and where needed. TCA has responded to and been sensitive to customers' concerns and desires for cable programming. TCA responded to customer concerns about the content of programming on MTV by negotiating the right to offer the service only to subscribers that desire the service. After conducting surveys to determine customer desires, TCA added TNT, Nick at Nite, a Fox network and expanded HSE and Arts and Entertainment to full-time. With respect to programming, TCA has sought out the desires of its customers and responded accordingly. In order to improve customer access to TCA's offices, TCA has constructed a brand new business office and service center. This office is located in a central location, has double lane drive-up windows, and more than ample parking. Our new office building, not only makes it easier for customers to do business with TCA, it has also provided improved efficiencies in operation. These efficiencies have made it possible for TCA to provide even more superior service to its customers without an increase in customer costs. TCA hires and maintains customer oriented employees. Each one of TCA's employees is carefully screened and trained so that they are both customer friendly and knowledgeable. TCA employs spanish speaking customer service representative and technicians to provide even better services. The FCC has certified TCA's operations in Bryan/College Station as being fully-compliant with their EEO requirements. TCA has brought each of these improvements to the community without rate increases. Basic cable rates have not increased since TCA began operations in Bryan and College Station. In fact, there has not been a rate increase since June 1988. Those subscribers that receive more than one premium movie service have even had a decrease in their rates. TCA's concerted effort to hold the line on rates has had its effect. Its rates are among the lowest in the area for similar sized systems. TE(~NIC~L SUPERIORITY. Pursuant to the franchise requirements, TCA was to deliver a minimum of 35 channels. TCA has exceeded this minimal requirement. TCA currently offers 39 channels of programming. The FCC requires that all cable operators that operate in the aeronautical band, perform regular signal leakage monitoring and tests. In every year since this requirement was instituted, TCA has passed with superior marks plus passed two FCC inspections in the last three years. TCA meets or exceeds each of the FCC's city of Bryan, City of College Station January 17, 1992 Page -4- suggested technical standards. CITY OF BRYAN ORDINANCE 695 AS IT ANRNDED ORDINANCE 553. Section 2 requires that "poles shall be so erected as not to interfere with traffic or the streets and alleys." As presently constructed, all poles in the system have been erected so as not to interfere with traffic over the streets and alleys. Section 6 requires the company to "produce a picture, whether in black and white or in color, that is undistorted, free from ghost images, and accompanied with proper sound on a typical standards production television set in good repair and as typical of the state of art." TCA's picture is superior and is substantially without distortion or ghost images. Whenever a problem with distortion or ghosting is brought to TCA's attention, it is fixed expeditiously. Section 6 requires the company to "transmit signals of adequate strength to produce good pictures with good sound to all outlets without causing cross-modulation in the system or interfering with other electrical or electronic systems." TCA's system produces good pictures with good sound to all outlets without causing cross-modulation or interfering with other electrical or electronic systems. Section 6 requires that the company "limit failures to a minimum by locating and correcting malfunctions properly, but in no event longer than 48 hours after notification." Since TCA has operated the system, it has never had a malfunction or a failure which equaled to or exceeded 48 hours after notice. The line extension policy at Section 6 requires the company to provide residential service wherever housing density reaches a minimum of 30 homes per aerial mile or 50 homes per underground mile. TCA meets or exceeds this requirement by providing residential service to any area with a density of 20 homes per mile aerial or 30 homes per mile underground. Section 6, Line extension policy requires the company to provide residential service to qualified areas within 90 calendar days of a request. TCA has received no requests for qualified service since it began operating the system which has not been met within 90 days. Section 6, Complaint and service log requires TCA to furnish the City, upon request, a log of all trouble calls. This log requirement has been complied with every year since TCA has operated the system. Finally, Section 6, provides a procedure whereby the City Council can determine that the company has failed to provide acceptable programming as it is related to the needs of the City of Bryan, City of College Station January 17, 1992 Page -5- community. Council. There has never been such determination by the City Section 7 requires the company to install cable capable of transmitting 35 television signals to all residents of the City desiring service. As mentioned above, the company currently provides 39 channels. Section 8 requires the company, upon request and payment, to advance, raise or lower its wires temporarily to permit the moving of houses or other bulky structures. TCA has complied with every request to provide this service. The company has maintained accounting records, as required by Section 10, according to the General Accepted Accounting Principles which relate specifically to financial reporting by cable television companies. These statements of operation and associated revenue reports have been supplied to the City as required by Section 10. TCA is required by Section 13 to, on request by the City to: provide a free connection of cable service to each public school within Bryan at such time as said service becomes available in the vicinity of such school; provide said public schools the non- exclusive use of one channel to distribute television signals for the school's telecasting; distribute television signals providing education programming from the local and Houston public television stations; provide a free connection of basic service to all city owned public buildings if cable service is available at that location; provide the City the non-exclusive use of one channel to distribute television signals for Bryan telecasting. TCA has provided free connections of cable service to all public schools and public buildings where there is currently cable service available. In Bryan, this means that service is provided to the Bryan High School, Jane Long Jr. High, SFA Jr. High, Anson Jones, Miliam, Sul Ross, Navarro, Johnson, Fannin, Bonham, Crockett, Henderson, Kemp, Houston, Lamar, the Municipal Building, the Utility Building, the Police Department, the Municipal Service Center, the Electrical Service Center, and Fire Stations 1 through 4. The only areas not served are Mary Branch, which is over 7,000 feet from the system and Rayburn Jr. High, which is over 2 miles from the system. Both the schools and the City have been afforded the use of a channel to distribute television signals. Which we note, neither the schools, nor the City have made full use of. Section 15 requires that TCA pay a franchise fee based on gross revenues. This fee is to be paid on or before the first day of March of each year based on the revenues of the preceding year ending on December 31. TCA has always made prompt payment under this provision. City of Bryan, City of College Station January 17, 1992 Page -6- Clearly, TCA has complied with each specific requirement of the franchise and all general requirements to provide high quality state of the art service. CITY OF COrz.RGE STATION, ORDINANCE 1546 AS IT AN~NDED ORDINANCR 1514. Section 2 requires that "poles shall be so erected as not to interfere with traffic or the streets and alleys." As presently constructed, all poles in the system have been erected so as not to interfere with traffic over the streets and alleys. Section 6 requires the company to "produce a picture, whether in black and white or in color, that is undistorted, free from ghost images, and accompanied with proper sound on a typical standards production television set in good repair and as typical of the state of art." TCA's picture is superior and is substantially without distortion or ghost images. Whenever a problem with distortion or ghosting is brought to TCA's attention it is fixed expeditiously. Section 6 requires the company to "transmit signals of adequate strength to produce good pictures with good sound to all outlets without causing cross-modulation in the system or interfering with other electrical or electronic systems." TCA's system produces good pictures with good sound to all outlets without causing cross-modulation or interfering with other electrical or electronic systems. Section 6 requires that the company "limit failures to a minimum by locating and correcting malfunctions properly, but in no event longer than 48 hours after notification." Since TCA has operated the system, it has never had a malfunction or a failure which equaled to or exceeded 48 hours after notice. The line extension policy at Section 6 requires the company to provide residential service wherever housing density reaches a minimum of 30 homes per aerial mile or 50 homes per underground mile. TCA meets or exceeds this requirement by providing residential service to any area with a density of 20 homes per mile aerial or 30 homes per mile underground. Section 6, Line extension policy requires the company to provide residential service to qualified areas within 90 calendar days of a request. TCA has received no requests for qualified service since it began operating the system which has not been met within 90 days. Section 6, Complaint and service loq requires TCA to furnish the City, upon request, a log of all trouble calls. This log-in requirement has been complied with every year since TCA has operated the system. Finally, Section 6, provides a procedure whereby the City City of Bryan, city of College Station January 17, 1992 Page -7- Council can determine that the company has failed to provide acceptable programming as it is related to the needs of the community. There has never been such determination by the City Council. Section 7 requires the company to install cable capable of transmitting 35 television signals to all residents of the City desiring service. As mentioned above, the company currently provides 39 channels. Section 8 requires the company upon request and payment to advance, raise or lower its wires temporarily to permit the moving of houses or other bulky structures. TCA has complied with every request to provide this service. The company has maintained accounting records, as required by Section 10, according to the General Accepted Accounting Principles which relate specifically to financial reporting by cable television companies. These statements of operation and associated revenue reports have been supplied to the City as required by Section 10. TCA is required by Section 13 to, on request by the City, to: provide a free connection of cable service to each public school within the City of College Station at such time as said service becomes available in the vicinity of such school; provide said public schools the non-exclusive use of one channel to distribute television signals for the school's telecasting; distribute television signals providing education programming from the local and Houston public television stations; provide a free connection of basic service to all city owned public buildings if cable service is available at that location; provide the City the non-exclusive use of one channel to distribute television signals for the City of College Station telecasting. TCA has provided free connections of cable service to all public schools and public buildings where there is currently cable service available. In College Station, this means that service is provided to A&M Consolidated, College Station Jr. High, Oakwook Middle, College Hills, Southwood, South Knoll, Rock Prairie, District Administrative, CISD Operations, Teen Center, Lincoln Center, Police Department, Public Utilities Dispatch, City Hall-Administration, and Fire Stations 1 and 2. The only areas not served are the Pump Station, which is 1,000 feet from the service area, the Waste Water Pump, which is 4,000 feet from the service area and the City Barn, which is 800 feet from the service area. Section 15 requires that TCA pay a franchise fee based on gross revenues. This fee is to be paid on or before the first day of March of each year based on the revenues of the preceding year ending on December 31. TCA has always made prompt payment under this provision. City of Bryan, City of College Station January 17, 1992 Page -8- Clearly, TCA has complied with each specific requirement of the franchise and all general requirements to provide high quality state of the art service. When TCA applied for consent to the assignment of the Cooke franchises for Bryan and College Station, it promised to provide a first quality, well run cable television system to both communities. TCA has more than lived up to this promise. Moreover, TCA has never been advised by either community that it was in violation of any provision of either franchise or that it has not provided adequate service under the franchises. To the contrary, TCA has received nothing but praise for the operation of its cable system in Bryan and College Station. Accordingly, it is respectfully requested, after hearing full public comment on this issue, that the franchising authorities for College Station and Bryan certify that TCA has substantially complied with material terms and conditions of the existing franchise and applicable law. Sincerely, TEXAS TELECABLE, INC. BY:Ra~rs~l Manager ST&~ OF I~,NDY Good evening. I am Randy Rogers, General Manager for TCA Cablets cable television system at Bryan and College Station, Texas. My telephone number is 409/846-2229, and I welcome any calls about our cable operations here or the renewal process. This, as you know, is the second of two public hearings being held by the Cities for the purpose of identifying the future cable related needs and interests of the community and reviewing TCAts performance under the current franchise. At the last public hearing, TCA presented detailed information on its compliance with the franchise terms. We also did a lot of listening to the concerns raised by members of the public. Tonight we will: i. Provide more information about TCA; ii. Address the concerns raised both at the previous public hearing and those submitted in writing as part of this proceeding; iii. Review the results of our own ascertainment efforts~ and iv. Do a lot more listening. At the last public hearing, we provided you with a lot of facts, figures and words. While all these add up to full compliance with our franchise, they really do not capture the -2- essence of efforts here in Bryan and College Station. this video will help complete the picture. We hope As you can see, TCA has a commitment to quality and service at the lowest possible price. We know we are a guest in your home. We are well aware that a subscriber can and does rent movies, go to the movies, attend live sporting events, and enjoy many of the cultural opportunities in the area, all instead of watching cable. This competition for your time means we have to offer the best quality entertainment at the lowest possible price. If we dontt provide what is wanted, subscribers will go some place else and if its too. expensive they just won't buy it. At the same time, we realize that many of our subscribers have different needs. We aim to provide a basic, reasonably priced, level of service to all who care to subscribe. At the same time, we offer extra levels of service for those who have the desire to pay more to get more. As a matter of company policy, we strive not to have the majority pay for services that are only desired by the few. Ail this leads to the very basic question of what do the residents of Bryan and College Station want from their cable company and at what price. To find out the answer to that question and to determine what our communitiest cable related needs might be= i. TCA has been having focus group discussions with -3- many of the groups in the community. We have met with and talked to the representatives from the College Station School District; representatives of various church groups; Robert Worley, Director of EDC at the Chamber of Congress; Michael Dack, Brazos Valley Ministerial Alliance~ Steve Beachy, Parks Director; Jake Canglose, Brazos County Emergency Management; Tom Brymer from the City of College Station; Dan Wilkerson, Director of Electric Utilities, Bryan; Joe Brown, City Communications Officer, Bryan; Jeff Hoiskt, 911 and representatives from Texas A&M. ii. TCA hired the Gallup Organization to survey the communities' residents; iii. TCA has tried to meet with or talk on the telephone with the people that raised questions during the earlier public hearing and the informational meeting held by the consultant on December, 1991; iv. Members of TCA's staff pay particular attention on a daily basis to the questions and suggestions made by our subscribers; and v. TCA has listened very carefully to information provided during the public hearings, as well as taken a very close examination of the written comments submitted. The information we've uncovered has been very interesting. It -4- will be the basis for our franchise proposal. And, of course, we hope the Cities will pay close attention to it when they evaluate our proposal and consider the MCS Provider Ordinance presently before them. We hired the Gallup Organization because we wanted to know how our subscribers felt about our service and what future service they were interested in. The Gallup Organization, one of the foremost polling organizations in the world, conducted telephone surveys of a representative sample of our subscribers. A copy of their report is being submitted to the Cities, but let me summarize a few of the things our subscribers are telling us. Eighty-eight percent rated our picture quality as excellent or good with only two percent saying that our picture quality was poor; Almost three quarters of our subscribers did not need to request a cable service call~ Ninety-three percent had no problem with their cable bill last year; Eighty percent were not willing to have their basic cable rates increased to fund a local community access channel~ Our subscribers overwhelmingly rejected paying an increased cable franchise tax, with only eight percent willing to pay the increase~ Ninety-three percent of the people that called -5- e TCA said that their calls were answered in a reasonable period of time and eighty-three percent felt that their calls were handled to their satisfaction by a courteous and knowledgeable customer service representative; and Thirty-two percent said service is better, forty-seven percent said quality of service was about the same and only six percent think that their service is worse now than when TCA took over. The Gallup Organization concluded that the number of persons who thought that cable service was better represented a "stronger positive feeling then is typical." Thirty-five percent said they would not be willing to pay any more to get additional basic services; Forty percent own a home computer; Only four percent use the bank at home services offered by some banks. Only eight percent use tele-conferencing; All in a11, that's a pretty good report card. It says that TCA is doing a good job, not perfect mind you, but a good job. It says that our customers are price sensitive and that while there is interest in access channels, there is a reluctance to pay for them. It is also overwhelminq cle~ that ~- increase in -6- the franchise fee that subscribers pay is unacceptable. Our research has also uncovered these other areas of interest. T~O-WAY INTE~ACTI-~EPLANT Several groups have expressed an interest in the type of services that two-way interactive cable plant could provide. These services include everything from permitting the schools to be interconnected to controlling the traffic lights in town and allowing the police to monitor your home with external video cameras. Unfortunately, each of these services have both social and monetary costs. police monitoring radically increased. or Not everybody would be happy with city-wide be willing to have their cable bill Also, while many of these services might be nice, they would be counterproductive if not used or if they are already available cheaper from other sources. As part of our ascertainment, TCA has tried to quantify the demand for these services and their cost. To date, this is what we have found out about the services that have been mentioned. The management of the two Cities have suggested the following: Linking of the Cities' computers from their multiple facilities. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES -7- Internal broadcasting network for the Cities. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... NO Control of public facilities electrical consumption by monitoring and controlling equipment in decentralized facilities. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES .... YES Remote meter reading, connection and disconnection of individual subscriber services. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Coordinated control of traffic signals. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Broadcasting of City Council Meetings. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Production studio available to City Staff. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... NO Insertion of programming (either video or character generated) from City facilities. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Community wide emergency alert system. System proposed by City Consultant would require a -8- new box in every home. Advantage of the system is that home owner has no choice whether or not to receive information. The box automatically goes off based on parameters set by the City. Disadvantages are that box is highly intrusive; there is only one supplier of the product; the system has not been fully tested; and the system is very expensive. This system is also no more effective than an outdoor alert system. The voters were asked to approve the purchase of an outdoor alert system for approximately $300,000 in 1990. The request was overwhelmingly defeated by the voters. APPROXIMATE COST OF SYSTEM PROPOSED BY CONSULTANT .................... FOUR MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, PLUS MAINTENANCE COSTS. There are however systems which will interrupt television viewing by either a crawl at the bottom of the screen, by blanking out the video on all channels, or by use of an all channel audio announcement. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES. TCA presently has the ability to announce school closing and other items of community interest on its community bulletin board channel or the educational access channel. TCA has not been asked to provide this service from either City, -9- but would be more than glad to offer it at any time. The College Station Independent School District has suggested the following= Studio facilities, character generation and post production facilities. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... NO Ability to load programming directly into cable system from one or more sites and the ability to broadcast from one or more sites. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... NO Connection of all sites with data and communications link. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FORM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Interconnection of the City of Bryan, City of College Station, Bryan ISD, Blinn College, and TAMU. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Some sort of emergency alert system. Receipt of satellite down linked services -10- such as high school and college credit courses and library and news service access. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Connection of non-subscribers to school programming. FEASIBILITY ................................ POOR Humana Hospital Brazos has suggested the following: Professional education, Allied Health-Professional education, Community education, Home Health/follow up care, civil defense, tele-conferencing, telemetry, inter- and intra departmental data links, and satellite links to academic medical centers. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... YES Charles Phelps, Bryan Chief of Police has suggested the following: Broadcast of training classes. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... YES Interactive training data base and police computer bulletin board. PRESENT AVAILABILITY. This type of interactive computer facility can be very easily set up using the normal telephone lines and any P.C. According to our survey, approximately 40% of -11- the community has personal computers at home. TCA would be glad to assist the police in setting up such a computer bulletin board at no cost. Remote video camera monitoring for police PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... NONE Public Safety channel. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ........................ NONE Emergency notification through cable. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Subscriber interaction with police so they can file reports, give information for a house check, pay traffic fines through cable. Ail by having a keyboard hooked to cable box. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... YES Have capability to block programs based on rating of programs. TCA already provides this option on a channel by channel basis. The Bryan/College Public Library suggested the following: The cable company could provide the cost of equipment and production of library programs -12- for school aged children on genealogical research and local history. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES ..... YES Bryan Utilities suggested the following: Communication link between utility and all customers for demand side load management. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... YES Communication between utility office and 100 locations for capacitor switching. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... YES Automated meter reading. PRESENT AVAILABILITY. ,One issue that should be analyzed is whether it is more appropriate for the cable or utility customers to pay for this service. Communications between utility offices and approximately 200 field switches for remote controlled switching. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... YES Displaying utility bill on customers television PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... NO screen. Polling of all cable customers on critical issues. PRESENT AVAILABILITY ....................... NO -13- The costs to provide these types of two-way interactive service, would be substantial. ACCESS FACILITIES There appears to be some need for increased access availability. However, this availability has several parts. As channel capacity increases, there can be greater channel set- asides for access channels. Unfortunately, TCA~s experience in Bryan and College Station is that the present channels are greatly under used and viewed. The cost of an access facility which can be used by the community would be approximately $150,000 for a serviceable production facility. The cost of running such a facility for free can be $163,000 on up. Obviously, these costs must be weighed against the potential benefit, especially, given the low viewership, low demand, and reluctance on the part of subscribers to have their cost for cable increased. CONVERTER BOX & EXTRA OUTLETS Two other issues that were raised in the earlier public hearing were the inconvenience of requiring a converter box to receive premium service and TCA~s practice of charging for extra -14- outlets. TCA is sensitive to the problem that customers experience with needing a converter box to receive premium service. We realize that the box can make it some what inconvenient to tape one show while watching another and nobody likes have multiple remote controls. TCA endeavors to make taping as easy as possible and assists subscribers in properly setting up their VCRs. When it comes to the multiple remote problem, TCA notes that there are products on the market called universal remotes which permit using one remote for the TV, VCR and the converter. Unfortunately, there is not presently a reliable system available that eliminate the need for a box. TCA's practice of charging for extra outlets, while a sensitive issue, is consistent with our fundamental practice of offering the lowest price service to the most customers and allowing customers who want more, to pay for the added service. We believe that it is fundamentally unfair to saddle all customers with the burden of paying for the convenience of a few. According to our records, less than a third of our customers have more than one outlet, and less than 10% have more than two. Although those that do have more outlets may have many more outlets (sometimes over ten). If we were to drop the charge for extra outlets, all subscribers bills would have to be increased from one to two dollars a month to make up the loss of revenue. It seems unfair to most of the subscribers to increase their -15- bills for the convenience of so few. There are also strong technical and service related reasons for charging for separate outlets. Under the technical standards being considered by the FCC, TCA will be required to deliver a strong signal to the back of every television set connected to the cable. Many people may not realize this, but cable is like a garden hose in many respects, the more taps off the cable (or holes in the hose) the weaker the stream that is delivered. As such, a house with multiple outlets often will need special amplifying equipment to make sure that each television set receives a strong picture. Also, the more outlets there are, the more repair service that is required for a home. At the present time, TCA does not charge for repair service. In fact, we encourage subscribers to call if they have a problem so that we can guarantee high quality service. If we were to delete the charges for extra outlets, we would have to increase everyone's basic charge to cover the cost of increased repair calls and additional in house equipment. We do not think that this is fair to the majority of our customers. Remember, that unlike telephone service, a cable subscriber can use every set in the house at the same time and receive different programming. Plus, our repair service is free. If a customer wants to be able to use more than one phone at a time, the telephone company charges heavily for that right and for repair service. All that being said, TCA understands the issue and is looking at ways to address these concerns without unfairly disadvantaging -16- the rest of its subscribers. Itm going to sit down now and listen to the other information that is presented today. I look forward to hearing from each of you about your concerns and ideas. Based on this information, TCA will prepare a renewal proposal that will deliver the best service possible at a reasonable price. GUEST REGISTER JOINT BRYAN/COLLEGE STATION CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, J]~fU~RY 21, 1992 BR~ZOS CENTER 7:00 P.M. 16. /~~., 17. ' ~ ~LI*.]~ ' 30 31 32 33. 40. ,