Save Access

from: Source News

Fight continues against Comcast

By DEANNA ROSE
Source Staff Writer

Several area officials and legislators decided last week to introduce state legislation that would prohibit the Comcast cable company from moving the existing channel locations for community government and schools channels from their current low-numbered channels to digital channels in the 900s.

Advertisement
The decision arose from a 90-minute strategy meeting in Sterling Heights on Jan. 4 that had mayors, supervisors, state representatives, a state senator and others discussing the optimal legal, political and legislative ways to have Comcast keep public, educational and government, or PEG, channels where they are.

“A lot of good ideas were exchanged,” Sterling Heights Mayor Richard Notte said.

At the meeting, State Reps. Tory Rocca (D-Sterling Heights) and Steve Bieda (D-Warren) agreed to submit a Speaker’s Priority Request, which would expedite the bill-writing process. Therefore, it would allow for a speedier introduction to the state Legislature of the resolution keeping government access channels at their current channels.

“I actually put a bill request in for this a couple weeks ago,” Rocca said. “Then I realized this would move a lot faster with some allies and some help.”

It can take weeks or even months to draft a bill, Rocca said. But, he added, since individual members of the state Legislature are allowed a certain number of priority requests and the speaker of the house holds a lot of power, a Speaker’s Priority Request gets the bill drafted a lot faster.

“(Bieda) has worked closely with the speaker in a number of issues, so he was able to get a Speaker’s Priority Request for this issue,” Rocca said.

It is unknown exactly when the bill, if introduced, would be voted on, although the priority request was planned to be introduced Jan. 9. Rocca said the resolution to keep the access channels in place on Comcast’s lineup would then most likely be assigned to the Energy and Technology Committee once drafted.

“There are enough constituents who care about this that we want to get this taken care of quickly,” Rocca said.

Since the Legislature has been out of session for several weeks and because the committee chairman hasn’t been available, Rocca said it might take a while for the bill to go through the commission and be introduced on the House of Representatives floor. However, he said it is possible to get the bill on the voting floor by discharging it. If there is a bill in the commission and the commission’s chairman is not available, Rocca said, a motion can be made to move it to the House floor as long as a majority of the House supports it.

“It’s hard to get a nose count, but everyone with whom I’ve talked to about this has been upset,” Rocca said. “My informal, nonscientific poll shows people are in support of this very much.”

Once the bill would pass the House, State Sen. Mickey Switalski (D-Roseville) - who attended the strategy meeting last week - said the bill would also receive support at the Senate level.

Several area communities have expressed displeasure with Comcast’s decision to move PEG channels to higher-number channels. In Sterling Heights, the PEG channels for Sterling Heights Television, the Library Channel, the Utica Community Schools Channel and the Warren Consolidated Schools Channel will be affected by the move to channels in the 900s. SHTV has been on Channel 5 of the Comcast system since local programming began in the 1980s and city officials worry it won’t be as convenient to watch when it is placed at channel 915.

“We’re hoping Comcast would have a change of mind with all the communities upset about it,” Notte said.

Although the new PEG channels would still be offered on Comcast’s basic tier of programming, they would be delivered only in digital format and require analog customers to obtain a converter box or upgrade their services.

Comcast Public Affairs Manager Olivia Visperas said the majority of the cable system’s nearly 1.3 million subscribers already have digital cable and that Comcast is adding more every day. She also said because the number of analog customers who would need a converter box to watch PEG channels is very small, “It’s not an issue with inventory,” and there will be enough of the boxes available.

Rocca said the timing Comcast’s decision seems very suspect, because it is happening when Legislature would be less likely to act so quickly once returning to session. He said he’s met with Comcast and said they have been unwilling to leave the PEG channels in the lower-numbered, analog channels.

“Everyone is going to need to switch to digital,” Visperas said, referring to the Digital Television Transition required in 2009. “This is one of the changes we will have to make over the next year.”

Visperas also said Comcast would act appropriately should any legislation be passed, but that Comcast is within current laws since the cable system looked into the federal and state levels of guidelines before starting the switch.