A sixty day contract extension has been proposed by Comcast for the renewal of a 15 year contract and further discussions between Comcast and the City of Bloomfield Hills. We spoke with Comcast General Manager Greg Kowalski who conceded a mathematical possibility of the City and Comcast breaking up but added the same probability existed for a meteor hitting the City. He also said the situation was complicated by Comcast's pending merger negotiations with Time Warner.
Also hanging in the balance is the future of the very popular BCTV which makes viewing area government meetings, school and other community events, possible by television and streaming via computer. Comcast also offers the facilities to produce such programs. It was such public access programming that prompted communities to offer cable broadcasters land for their cable and in some cases a monopoly of service.
Today Comcast in the City of Bloomfield is not a real monopoly but de facto one. That is because the City with 1500 homes is small potatoes and small population density. AT+T does sell phone and high speed internet service via the phone lines in the City. The popular Uverse TV system is however unavailable to city residents who are instead offered Directv satellite systems through a separate provider . AT+T offers no public access programming or facilities to City residents.
No comments:
Post a Comment