City Seeks More TV Channels in Franchise
By Karen Gould

With the Island’s cable television franchise about to expire, the city’s Finance Committee met Thursday, June 16, to discuss renewing a 15-year contract with Charter Communications and considered adding new channels to the Island’s current lineup, which could hike the basic rate to Islanders between four and eight dollars. The committee also agreed not to add a city cable fee to subscribers, and until final contract details can be ironed out, they asked the city council to sign an extension for the current contract, which Council did at its meeting Wednesday, June 22. The current contract expires July 11 and the city hopes to work out a new contract in the next two months.

Cable Internet service was also discussed.

The committee met with Charter Communications Government Relations Administrator Don Gladwell, who discussed the current service and additional channel possibilities. Committee members said they have received requests from residents for more channels, including Golf, Food Network, Lifetime, C-Span 2, Turner Classic Movies, Animal Planet, VH-1, and the Learning Channel.

“I can commit to five or six new channels,” Mr. Gladwell said, who also noted the $4 to $8 subscription increase. He promised to supply the committee with a list of available channels and then the committee could decide which ones to add. Mr. Gladwell told committee members that he’d have to look into programming commitments and that he anticipates VH-1 might be a problem because of channel ownership.

Mr. Gladwell suggested the city could collect a cable fee from subscribers, with such a fee to be added to customer bills and collected by Charter for the city. The committee agreed it would rather see a rate increase be applied to additional channels.

Currently, the Island cable subscribers are offered nine basic channels for $30.52 a month and can receive expanded basic and premium movie channels at an additional cost.

Mr. Gladwell said the size of the Island barely makes the minimum return on investment he is required to meet with his company. That quota is 25 homes signed up per cable mile. In the winter, about five homes per cable mile subscribe, for a total subscriber base between 22 and 44 homes.

There are approximately 500 subscribers in the summer, he said.

The lease agreement is strictly for video services, Mr. Gladwell told Finance Committee members Smi Horn, Jason St. Onge, and Mike Hart, who along with Mayor Margaret Doud and her assistant, Kelly Bean, attended the meeting. High speed broadband is another consideration for the Island, he said, but to provide the service, the cable system would need upgrading, which would require running a new fiber optic cables under the water to the Island. Though he did not rule out the possibility, Mr. Gladwell reminded the committee there are only a few customers on the Island year-around, making it difficult for the demand to meet the company’s business model.

“From a business standpoint, we would need to look at the cost,” he said.

Another option would be a wireless overlay from St. Ignace, providing a similar service to that which Island residents already have through Maylone Enterprises, Inc.

“It’s something we’re thinking about,” he said. “I can’t make promises.”

Such a project, he added, would require a feasibility study to determine the demand and project cost.