Why No Cable Talks?
Freelancing as a reporter has definitely put a crimp in my blogging and everything else I like to do. Right now my lack of blog thoughts has caused the obnoxious Microsoft Office Assistant to take a snooze while awaiting my next keystrokes. That’s a first.
Part of my blog malaise also has to do with the paucity of council news. The last City Council meeting had 16 resolutions that were approved in a single vote and one ordinance that required a roll call vote. That part was all over in eight minutes.
More residents came out for the meeting than in past months and some had questions, mostly about the overpayment issue that was reported in the Plaintalker. But I know there are lots of other issues out there that could use a little attention by our elected representatives.
One such issue is the cable television franchise. As reported in Plaintalker last year, the city could have begun the ascertainment process in August. This preliminary process is meant to assess the current delivery of cable services to Plainfield customers, among other things. One person at Wednesday’s meeting asked about the 2 percent cable franchise revenue that is supposed to come back to the city for the operation of its local cable channel. There is also supposed to be a board that oversees the local cable channel, but it only has a few members.
City Administrator Marc Dashield assured the resident after the meeting that the local channel will soon improve. The larger question may be whether the city intends to pursue cable franchise renewal or will it adopt another technology. And if so, will there still be a local channel?
About 11,000 of Plainfield’s 15,000 households have Comcast cable. Verizon’s FIOS is not yet available in Plainfield, according to a check just now at their web site. But it probably will be by the time the Comcast franchise is up in August 2009. The company won a statewide franchise last year and is working on making service available to all municipalities.
So is anybody looking into this? Where’s the discussion? If all these proposed condos get built, there will be a lot more households affected by a franchise decision. Comcast representatives appeared at a City Council meeting last year to answer questions and to remind the council it was time to start the ascertainment process. Maybe Verizon representatives should be invited to explain what they can do for Plainfield.
A March 25 Courier News article reports on Somerville’s concern that its local channel is not yet available to residents who switched to Verizon. Read here.
If anyone has questions about the future of cable service and the local community channel, please let your elected officials know. Maybe it’s a good question for candidates who will file April 9 to represent you on local, county and state levels.
--Bernice Paglia
Part of my blog malaise also has to do with the paucity of council news. The last City Council meeting had 16 resolutions that were approved in a single vote and one ordinance that required a roll call vote. That part was all over in eight minutes.
More residents came out for the meeting than in past months and some had questions, mostly about the overpayment issue that was reported in the Plaintalker. But I know there are lots of other issues out there that could use a little attention by our elected representatives.
One such issue is the cable television franchise. As reported in Plaintalker last year, the city could have begun the ascertainment process in August. This preliminary process is meant to assess the current delivery of cable services to Plainfield customers, among other things. One person at Wednesday’s meeting asked about the 2 percent cable franchise revenue that is supposed to come back to the city for the operation of its local cable channel. There is also supposed to be a board that oversees the local cable channel, but it only has a few members.
City Administrator Marc Dashield assured the resident after the meeting that the local channel will soon improve. The larger question may be whether the city intends to pursue cable franchise renewal or will it adopt another technology. And if so, will there still be a local channel?
About 11,000 of Plainfield’s 15,000 households have Comcast cable. Verizon’s FIOS is not yet available in Plainfield, according to a check just now at their web site. But it probably will be by the time the Comcast franchise is up in August 2009. The company won a statewide franchise last year and is working on making service available to all municipalities.
So is anybody looking into this? Where’s the discussion? If all these proposed condos get built, there will be a lot more households affected by a franchise decision. Comcast representatives appeared at a City Council meeting last year to answer questions and to remind the council it was time to start the ascertainment process. Maybe Verizon representatives should be invited to explain what they can do for Plainfield.
A March 25 Courier News article reports on Somerville’s concern that its local channel is not yet available to residents who switched to Verizon. Read here.
If anyone has questions about the future of cable service and the local community channel, please let your elected officials know. Maybe it’s a good question for candidates who will file April 9 to represent you on local, county and state levels.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 5:48 AM
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