Comcast completes city-assisted heist of public TV assets
Tue., Dec. 07, 2004 Filed in: public access
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12-year deal provides some funding for public access, but has major flaws
Monday night, December 6, 2004, as expected, the Baltimore City Council voted overwhelmingly 16-1 with two abstentions to approve a new 12-year cable television contract that allows Comcast use of city rights of way to continue making huge corporate profits by providing cable television.
Councilman Kwame Abayomi called for a special "roll call" vote, where the actual votes of the council members are given one-by-one, and was applauded by the capacity crowd for his lone no vote. The final decision was met with loud hissing from the audience prompting Council President Sheila Dixon to exclaim, "Excuse me! We will not be disrespected."
With the contract the city turns over four of its available public channels, worth an estimated $77,000,000, to Comcast in exchange for a $570,000 "training grant." In a letter to Baltimore Grassroots Media, copied to council members earlier in the day, Anthony Riddle, the new executive director of the Alliance for Community Media, reveals that this is an even bigger loss in terms of bandwidth now that Comcast is digital.
The training grant is part of a side agreement with Comcast, which the language of, community television advocates warn, contrary to claims of elected officials, does not guarantee any money for public access. There is no money in the actual contract for public access operations or hiring of staff to run public access.
The contract does add a 50-cent per month "pass-through" fee to cable subscriber's monthly bills to fund equipment for public, education and government (PEG) access channels, one third going to each. However, the amendment that specifies the thirds is unclear about what will happen to the public access portion before the public access corporation is formed. The 50-cent charge is expected to total $705,000 per year with about $235,000 for public access capital expenses.
In a letter to council members, Richard Turner, executive director of Montgomery Community Television, has pointed out a false assumption made during the negotiations, that this pass-trough could only be used for capital expenses. In fact it could have been used for operational expenses as well (see chart: Public Access Funding Forecast).
And a last-second amendment added to the bill without opportunity for public scrutiny specifies that the mayor will appoint a 13-member board to form the public access corporation. This was an abrupt change from the Mayor's Office of Cable and Communications' oft-stated plan to allow citizen groups, such as Baltimore Grassroots Media, to submit proposals for running public access.
The mayor already controls the government access channel, 21, which can be used to promote his agenda, and according to Marilyn Harris Davis, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Cable and Communications, which runs channel 21, the channel has a $1,700,000 annual budget.
Council President Dixon had critical words for public access supporters who don't get cable, "The frustrating part for me in doing all the battling is that the people who came to testify don't even have cable, and so in order to increase that fifty cents beyond the seven hundred thousand you got to make a commitment to having cable in order for you to pay into it...I'm not marketing...'cause you know they're competing with - what is it? - Direct TV and a whole host of things. You know I already told my children they might not even have cable...sorry that I got so emotional on that point."
However many of the public access supporters who testified do get cable, and anyway, public access channels where people can show their own programs, is something Comcast is required to make available for all citizens, not just cable subscribers, in return for the hundreds of millions of dollars Comcast is allowed to make in the city.
According to state board of election data, Dixon has received at least $5,350 from Comcast and its executives this election cycle.
With the council meeting still going on, smiling and laughing Comcast executives were seen exiting a room adjacent to the council chambers where they were meeting with city negotiators, presumably to formalize the agreement.