Minutes 12/08/1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1997 and significant financial contributions from Adelphia to provide for greater television system usage by government, education and the general public. Mr. Teague then closed the presentation~ stating that the next public meeting on the franchise issue would be another Joint Meeting of the Council and Board on January 67 19987 7:00 P. M., at Fieldale-Collinsville High School, at which time the Public Hearing would be closed. The floor was then opened to questions. Councilmember Haskell asked what the cost might be to regulate basic rates, what personnel would be needed to carry out such a responsibility, and whether such an effort might make much real difference in rates or service. Mr. Clower stated that he did not know what such a service might cost to provide, that if the County did it they would probably assign the work to existing staff~ and that he did not believe that the effort would result in much benefit to subscribers. Chairman Dalton then asked what the Basic service package consists of, to which Terry Nosse of Adelphia replied, with a list of the channels provided in the Basic Service of the local system. Mr. Dalton asked if these were the only channels that could be regulated at the local level, to which Mr. Nosse replied in the affirmative. In response to the question ~ Mr. Dalton was also informed that local governments could not regulate the programming package either. Councilmember Teague commented that the City had been disinclined towards regulation of the Basic rate from earliest discussion on the subject. Councilmember Haskell then asked whether rates were a negotiable issue with regardI~o the second six years of the proposed franchise extension~ the answer to which was no. Mr. Cashwell then provided a brief review of the history of regulation of cable television, noting that the trend was definitely toward less regulation. Mrs. Haskell then asked what the range of the Adelphia system was, and Mr. Price responded that Adelphia was the seventh largest cable television provider in the United States, and that their systems were available throughout Virginia. Boardmember Seidle asked how the technology in the existing system compared to technology in Adelphia systems elsewhere~ to which Mr. Price responded that the technology in the Martinsville-Henry County system has kept pace with the region and the state. Other comments were made about how the proposed improvements to the system would improve system reliability and quality, and that other future improvements would be market driven. Mr. Teague then commented that the City and County's consultant had helped a great deal in getting needed technology