PEG Advocates Chide Charter for Channel Movements
Charter Communications' pattern of moving public, educational and government channels from basic service tiers to higher up channel lineups, which PEG backers contend violates franchise agreements with municipalities, may be addressed by FCC deal conditions, said some advocates. In Northbridge, Massachusetts, St. Cloud, Minnesota, and elsewhere, Charter has made such PEG moves, said advocates for the channels.
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The franchise agreements clearly say where the PEG access channels should be, said Bunnie Riedel, executive director of Alliance for Community Television. Relief could come if Comcast’s proposed deal with Time Warner Cable is approved, because the FCC may condition it on not making such moves and Charter is getting some systems being divested in the deal, said some PEG advocates. Charter attributed the changes to its all-digital transition.
Signed in 2013, the Northbridge agreement says three full-time downstream channels for PEG access purposes are to be made available on channels 11, 12 and 13. Charter moved the channels to 191, 192 and 194, “in direct violation of the franchise agreement,” Riedel said.
The Northbridge PEG channels have been on the lower channels for 30 years, said Harry Berkowitz, chairman of the cable advisory committee for Northbridge. The committee and Charter went before the city Board of Selectmen last week to have the channels put back, he said. But Charter “won’t put them back,” he said. The city is hoping to seek the help of an attorney, he said.
The city council for St. Cloud, Minnesota, is awaiting action on a notice of franchise violation, regarding Charter’s move of its PEG channels up to the 180s, said Matthew Staehling, city attorney. The city is trying to negotiate a franchise renewal, he said. The problem started when Charter’s digital migration began, he said. “We were unable to reach an agreement, so they just moved the channels.” The city is trying to resolve all open issues, but “whether we get there, I don’t know,” he added.
The moves are part of Charter’s all-digital process, a Charter spokesman said. It “provides a large number of benefits to our customers, including a doubling of our broadband speeds from 30 Mbps to 60 Mbps, more HD and more on-demand content.” Charter provided customers with notice on these new benefits they’d receive at no additional charge “and have also provided notice to customers on the channel moves they would experience,” he said.
The move in Northbridge would require an extensive and costly marketing change, and it affects viewer access, Berkowitz said. No one is surfing in the 190s, he said. The local channels in the Boston area are in low numbers, and a lot of HD channels are in the 700s, he said: “We’re in the middle of nowhere.” Charter offered to advertise the change at the local level, he said, but the board and studio staff are insisting on returning to the low tier.
This kind of action by cable operators is unusual, said Michael Bradley, a Bradley Hagen attorney who represents local governments with cable franchising issues. He also has worked with Comcast and Cox Communications. “I haven’t seen that type of behavior,” he said. Other operators are willing to keep the PEG channels in similar locations as TV stations, he said. For smaller communities, “it’s difficult to challenge the cable operator and expend public resources that they shouldn’t have to spend to get the cable operator to comply with the terms of the franchise they just entered into,” he said.
The only recourse is a legal one, Riedel said, referring to the Community Access Preservation Act (S-1789), which was introduced last year (see 1312110026). The CAP Act would require PEG channels to remain on the basic tier of service, she said.
Comcast/TWC could offer some relief, Berkowitz and Bradley said. In neighboring towns to Northbridge that are served by Comcast, the PEG channels remain on low numbers, said Berkowitz: If the deal goes through, “we could end up back there by coming to Comcast.” Comcast agreed to take over some of Charter’s customers, including those in the Northeast, if the deal is approved (see 1404290033). The review process can address Charter’s behavior, Bradley said. Comcast and Charter could voluntarily agree that they won’t allow that type of behavior to continue, and “that they’ll keep the local access channels where they should be,” he said.