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South Bend to review performance of cable television company

Posted on: Monday, 17 November 2003, 06:00 CST

Five years ago, the local cable television company promised to upgrade its service to South Bend.

The promise followed a couple of rancorous public hearings in which cable customers voiced their frustrations about TCI of Michiana to the South Bend Board of Public Works.The city provides a franchise to the cable company, now known as Comcast, that allows it to offer service in South Bend.

People have passionate attachments to their TV sets and the programs they watch.

Lee Loevinger, former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, described television as "the literature of the illiterate, the culture of the lowbrow, the wealth of the poor, the privilege of the underprivileged, the exclusive club of the excluded masses."

A key complaint in 1998 was TCI's decision to drop WTTW,the Chicago PBS station, in favor of Fox News Channel, and to replace the Plex movie channel with ESPN2.Viewers had a list of stations they wanted to see on the local cable. They seemed to lend credence to the comment by New York Post critic Clive Barnes,who said: "Television is the first truly democratic culture -- the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."

Viewers were upset five years ago that the public hearing on TCI's 15-year contract with the city was at 9 a.m. on a Thursday, when few people could attend.

So the city scheduled another public hearing a month later at 5:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. The council chambers in the County-City Building was packed for the event. Cable subscribers ranted for 90 minutes about the service they were getting -- or failing to get.

The city listened, then drafted a franchise agreement that tried to address some of the concerns.

Although it is a 15-year agreement, it has a stipulation in it that the service would be reviewed after five years to see whether promised improvements had been made.

That's where we are now.

A lot has changed during the past five years, including the cable company itself. AT&T Broadband bought TCI in the late 1990s. About a year ago, Comcast bought AT&T Broadband. The company name was changed to Comcast in February.

Changes have happened in programs and services, too, according to Lori Marsh, corporate affairs manager for Comcast.

Have the changes met the stipulations in Comcast's agreement with the city? That will be the point of a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Monday on the fourth floor of the County-City Building.

Aladean DeRose, chief deputy city attorney, warned that the hearing will be limited to issues of compliance, not programming or other matters.

"Under a contract extension," she said in a press release, "only significant breaches of contracts or noncompliance with conditions will prevent a continuance of the contract."

The contract cannot be changed until 2013, when it is up for renewal.

So how is Comcast doing? You decide, based on these points in the contract:

Comcast was to upgrade the cable system "to be capable of transmitting a minimum of 125 channels combined, analog and digital, of video programming."

Recognizing South Bend's proximity to and interest in the Chicago area, Comcast agreed "to provide programming generally preferred by the residents of South Bend that will reasonably address the legitimate needs and interests of the community, such as Chicago programming."

Marsh said Comcast has exceeded the 125-channel minimum. She supplied a list of available channels -- both analog and digital -- that totals 223. Customers can pick the kind of package they want.

Comcast was to improve its customer service. It was to have trained employees available to answer telephone inquiries during normal business hours. It was to offer a 24-hour toll-free telephone service to deal with after-hours calls.

The "telephone answer time" by a customer service representative is not to exceed 30 seconds when a connection is made. Under normal conditions, a customer should receive a busy signal less than 3 percent of the time.

It was to do standard installations within seven business days.

Although the city has no control over specific program offerings, the contract said it was to have programs available in the broad categories of education; news and information; sports; general entertainment; children/family-oriented; arts, culture and performing arts; science/documentary; weather information; and national, state and local government affairs.

Marsh said it has done that, even offering a tier of Spanish language programming.

"We're pretty happy and proud of our channel offering and the services we offer in the South Bend area," she said.

If the city determines that Comcast has failed to meet any provision of the agreement, it can seek to compel compliance. If that fails, it can take legal action against Comcast for monetary damages. In the event of a serious default, the city can revoke the agreement.

Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/ o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234.

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