LUS Fiber is a municipally-owned provider competing in Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette Utility Systems’ LUS Fiber has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission accusing the cable industry co-op of blocking the company from getting the favorable discounts and access to cable networks its competitor Cox Cable receives.

LUS Fiber Director Terry Huval said the blockade against LUS Fiber could ultimately cost the city millions and deny subscribers access to popular cable networks.  Huval accused its rival, Cox Cable, of being behind the repeated denials of membership for the Louisiana municipal cable system.

The municipal provider issued a news release stating that its complaint to the FCC originally was joined by municipal providers in Wilson, N.C., and Chattanooga, Tenn., but the National Cable Television Cooperative has since admitted those systems, while keeping LUS Fiber out.

“The NCTC opened membership to two other municipally-owned telecommunications companies that are very similar to our own Lafayette operation and in the same week refused to admit us on the same terms and conditions,” Huval said. “The only difference among the three systems is that our major cable competitor is NCTC’s largest member as well as a member of NCTC’s board of directors.”

LUS Fiber's primary competitor is Cox Cable

The NCTC is critically important to many medium and small sized cable companies who together collectively bargain access and the best possible volume discounts for hundreds of cable networks and broadcasters.  Those discounts are substantial, considering only Comcast gets larger discounts than the NCTC’s group membership.  NCTC membership also frees members from the tedious one on one negotiations cable systems would otherwise be required to conduct to obtain and maintain agreements with cable programmers.

Keeping LUS Fiber out means the municipal provider could be left charging higher prices than Cox charges for cable-TV in Lafayette.

Federal law appears to be on the side of LUS Fiber as part of the 1992 Cable Act that consumer groups fought for:

It shall be unlawful for a cable operator, a satellite cable programming vendor in which a cable operator has an attributable interest, or a satellite broadcast programming vendor to engage in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices, the purpose or effect of which is to hinder significantly or to prevent any multichannel video programming distributor from providing satellite cable programming or satellite broadcast programming to subscribers or consumers.

The NCTC operates a spartan website at nctconline.org

As someone who personally was involved in the passage of that legislation, the ironic part is we were fighting -for- the NCTC back then.  Of course, those days the cooperative was made up of wireless cable providers, utility co-ops, municipal co-ops, and other independent cable systems that were constantly facing outright refusals for access to cable programming or discriminatory pricing.  Satellite dish-owners were also regularly targeted.  NCTC was a friendly group in the early 1990s but has since become dominated with larger corporate cable operators, especially Cox Cable and Charter Communications.

LUS builds a compelling case:

NCTC and its dominant members have not only grown significantly in size and power, but they have become increasingly anti-competitive themselves. They are now undermining Congress’s pro-competitive intent by using denial of membership in NCTC as an anticompetitive device to insulate NCTC’s existing members from competition by new entrants.

Specifically, in 2007 and 2008, NCTC imposed a “moratorium” on new members, claiming that it needed time to review its membership policies. In late 2008, NCTC supposedly lifted the moratorium, posting new application procedures on its website. These procedures, NCTC stated, would ordinarily result in admissions within 60-120 days. LUS promptly applied for membership, furnishing all of the information that NCTC required. In reality, NCTC only lifted the moratorium for private-sector cable operators, including Cox and Charter. For LUS and other municipal cable operators, NCTC’s claim to be open to new memberships turned out to be little more than a deceptive sham.

In short, as of April 2010, despite publishing procedures suggesting that new members would be admitted within 120 days, NCTC had not admitted a single new public communications provider during the year and a half since it supposedly lifted its moratorium.

Without access to programming at competitive prices, no one would consider switching to a municipal provider that charged higher prices than the incumbent.  The NCTC’s increasingly secretive and erratic admission of new municipal members provides ample ammunition for those on the outside looking in to accuse the group of unfair practices.

Cox Cable is joining a steady parade of broadband providers giving the boot to one of the Internet’s oldest services – Usenet newsgroups, telling customers if they want to keep receiving the service, they’ll have to pay someone else to get it.

Broadband Reports notes Cox customers are receiving e-mail notifications about the imminent demise of a service that many newer subscribers probably know nothing about:

Declining newsgroup usage in recent years has highlighted the need to focus our resources on other priorities, such as increasing our Internet speeds and providing new services, including Cox Media Store and Share. We understand that our newsgroup subscribers may want to continue accessing Usenet. Therefore, we have worked with leading newsgroup service provider Giganews to offer special pricing for Cox subscribers.

Giganews is a well-respected, albeit expensive newsgroup service provider offering more than one year of message retention, useful for those using the service to obtain older files. Copyright enforcement on newsgroups is lax, which is one reason some Internet Service Providers may not wish to bother with the service any longer.  But it’s not entirely a piracy haven.  Old time radio show enthusiasts trade programs back and forth and others use the service to discuss wide-ranging topics with an international audience.

Despite the end of newsgroup service, Cox Cable does not plan to compensate customers with a lowered broadband bill.

A Giganews representative visited the Cox users forum on Broadband Reports to promote the deal:

The “deals” Giganews is offering Cox users are fairly standard, and include a two month 50% discount off of Giganews’ “Diamond Plan” (and 10% for the rest of your subscription). Users interested in less expensive plans will get 50% off of those plans for a month (and 10% for the rest of your subscription). That 10% lifetime discount is being offered for the first time ever, according to a GigaNews rep that has stopped by our Cox forum.

There are cheaper alternatives.

A Norfolk, Virginia girl faces serious reconstructive surgery after running into an unattended cable line the city determined to be the property of Cox Cable.

Laurel Pont says her grandchildren were on their bicycles in May of 2008 when Willow got caught in a spiraling cable stretched across several lawns and driveways in an alley near her home.  The cable had been left there, unattended, for at least seven months.

Bill Pont noted, “This wasn’t just a wire, this was a coil. It was like a giant slinky laying here.”

Both of Font’s grandchildren were injured from the encounter.  The result for Font’s granddaughter was a serious facial injury.

Laurel Pont told WAVY-TV the little girl faces reconstructive surgery after she nearly severed her top lip from her face.

“She doesn’t smile. She used to have this huge smile, big toothy grin,” Pont said.

The matter is now in the courts, and that prompted a major dispute between city officials and Cox Cable, both named as defendants, over who is responsible for the cable.

“We originally sued Cox and the City of Norfolk. The City of Norfolk has filed what they call a cross claim against Cox. Cox then filed what they call a 3rd party action [against a subcontractor],” said Joseph Young, the Font’s attorney.

The Font’s turned to WAVY-TV’s 10 On Your Side in hopes of getting the matter resolved and to also expose the danger of unattended utility cables.  The Font family is also working with legislators to create a law that would limit the amount of time a hazard can remain in a neighborhood.

WAVY-TV’s ’10 On Your Side’ covers the story of a girl seriously injured because of unattended cable television wiring. (5 minutes)

[Stop the Cap! will be closely following Google's experimental gigabit fiber-optic broadband network. We'll be bringing regular updates about the communities applying, the strategies they are using to attract Google's attention, what the competition thinks, and the impact of the project on American broadband.  You can read our earlier community profiles, and news about the project here.]

Topeka wants Google’s fiber experiment so badly, it is willing to rename itself to Google, Kansas — at least for the month of March, anyway.

Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation Monday rechristening the city “Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics.”

It’s all part of a well-organized effort to bring Google’s fiber optics to 122,000 residents living and working in the capital city of Kansas.

Think Big Topeka, a local group started by three people just a few weeks ago, was launched to promote Topeka as a candidate city.  It includes links to e-mail elected officials, complete Google’s online nomination form, and coordinate upcoming events.

It has since collected more than 10,000 Facebook fans and has gotten a big push from most of the local broadcast and print media, which have run more than a dozen stories about the group and the petition to nominate Topeka.  Several stations even have prominent links back to Think Big Topeka’s website.  The city government is also an enthusiastic supporter of the experimental project.

Think Big Topeka knows how to get media attention.  The group recently started running “flash mobs” — events where hundreds of people silently promote the project by suddenly stripping off jackets to uncover T-shirts promoting the Think Big Topeka campaign.  Engineering events that are “made for television” guarantee plenty of attention on the evening news.

The Google “Think Big With a Gig” experiment has excited communities from coast to coast, convinced advanced fiber optic networks will bring new jobs, high technology business, and improved broadband service for both consumers and area businesses.  Many hope the competition will also finally lower prices.

Incumbent providers Cox Cable and AT&T are the largest local providers.

Cox currently offers three broadband tiers — Essential 3 Mbps/384 kbps ($29.99), Preferred 12/1.5 Mbps ($46.99), and Premier 25/2 Mbps ($61.99).

Cox Cable, when asked by KSNT-TV news what they thought about the project brought a response from Kelly Zega, a representative from Cox Communications: “We have always believed competition in the marketplace is a healthy thing, as it leads us all to improve and innovate in ways that ultimately benefit consumers.”

AT&T offers U-verse in selected areas of Topeka, but most areas are still served by AT&T’s traditional DSL service which offers considerably slower speeds — Basic 768/384 kbps ($19.95), Express 1.5 Mbps/384 kbps ($24.95), Pro 3 Mbps/512 kbps ($24.95), or Elite 6 Mbps/768 kbps ($24.95).  (Note the prices for Express, Pro, and Elite are identical — apparently which plan you get depends on what actual speeds AT&T is capable of delivering to your home.)

If Google can deliver faster speeds and lower prices, it’s no surprise thousands of Topekans are excited.

The Topeka Capital-Journal, the community’s daily newspaper, is also promoting the project on its editorial pages:

This excitement is being created by a lot of people who see opportunities to help the city grow and become an even better place to live, and are determined to do everything they can to make it happen.

Evidence of their enthusiasm and dedication was on display Thursday evening when about 500 of them gathered at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center to talk about plans to revitalize downtown Topeka. Granted, the audience consisted of two different groups, but each had visions that, if fulfilled, would mean great things for our city.

We’ve written recently in support of Think Big Topeka, a group trying to convince Google that Topeka is the place to test an ultrafast Internet connection that promises to provide Internet service about 100 times faster than anything we are working with now. The effort has attracted about 7,875 supporters in a very short time and some of them turned out for Thursday’s meeting, sponsored by Heartland Visioning, to encourage others to jump on the bandwagon.

Supporters of the Google project and those interested in revitalizing downtown meshed during the evening as the discussion flowed between both issues.

Such a confluence of people and organizations with visions, dreams or plans — call them what you will — is a healthy, and welcome, development itself that bodes well for the city’s future. Most good things start with someone’s vision or dream, and they aren’t to be scoffed at or dismissed out of hand.

Think Big Topeka has more than 10,000 fans on its Facebook page

Dreams can come true… if a city actually applies.  The city of Topeka will.

“The city of Topeka welcomes the opportunity to participate in this unique technological experiment, if selected as Google trial community, to benefit our citizens in providing all opportunities to access Internet technologies,” city officials wrote on the city’s Facebook page.

The city’s information technology department has been tasked with working on what they characterized as a very long and detailed application.  Mark Biswell, IT director for Topeka city government, said his department has been hard at work on the application from the moment Google announced the project.

Shawnee county, which includes Topeka, is conducting an online  survey running until Saturday asking residents about their interest in the Google fiber project.  They are seeking input on what kinds of broadband speeds residents actually obtain, instead of relying on marketing promises made by the incumbent providers.  They also want to learn how satisfied residents are with Cox and AT&T.

For Topeka, a city coincidentally working on its own revitalization plan for downtown development, the prospect of Google gigabit fiber could be the crown jewel of a complete city makeover.

KTKA Topeka aired three reports about the Google fiber experiment, including an interview with one of the founders of the Think Big Topeka group. (3 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WIBW Topeka Group Wants Google's Blazingly-Fast Internet To Come To Topeka 2-17-10.flv

WIBW Topeka has these two reports featuring the Think Big Topeka group and how the city government is involved in the project.  (4 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KSNT Topeka City Renames Itself Google for March 3-1-10.flv

KSNT Topeka has several reports about the organizing effort, a “flash mob” and Topeka city government’s strong belief in the project.  (6 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Think Big Topeka.flv

Finally, Think Big Topeka has some of its own videos on offer, answering residents’ questions and cheerleading the effort to bring better broadband to Topeka.  (3 minutes)

Cox has a Facebook page devoted to asking customers what they think would be fair in wireless products and pricing.

The cable industry’s definition of “fair” doesn’t always seem to connect with average consumers, who too often discover what sounds like a good deal to the local cable company isn’t a good deal for them.  Despite the skepticism, Cox Communications thinks it has a deal for you… an “unbelievably fair deal” for consumers looking for wireless service.

Cox already has a website up and running, unbelievablyfair.com where Cox Cable customers can register with their e-mail address and get updates on service availability.  They also get a free OnDemand movie coupon.

If you’re wondering what Cox is up to, here’s the scoop.

Back in 2006, Cox and several other cable companies bid for and won several frequency blocks suitable to support wireless services.  Those frequencies, along with a partnership with Sprint Nextel, are expected to serve Cox’s entry into the wireless business.  Initially launching in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Omaha, Nebraska, and Orange County, California, Cox will use Sprint’s CDMA 3G network to support its wireless service at the outset.

The company hasn’t revealed exactly how “unbelievably fair” their pricing actually is, but based on the company’s advertising campaign, it’s a safe bet it will be free from the tricks, traps, and gotchas bigger players in the market stick to their customers.  Minute plans would likely provide “rollover” of unused minutes, if not kicking the minutes bucket right out of the equation with flat rate service.  Hidden extra fees and surcharges are also unlikely to be a part of Cox Wireless’ service plans.  That could ultimately mean a plan priced competitively with Boost Mobile or Tracfone Wireless’ Straight Talk.

Cox will eventually enhance Cox Wireless and provide it in other Cox Cable service areas, as well as building out its own wireless network.

“Our research found that value and transparency are very important to consumers when choosing a wireless service plan, but they are not finding these qualities in the wireless plans offered today,” said Stephen Bye, vice president of wireless. “Total loss of unused minutes as well as unforeseen overage charges on bills are just two examples of what our customers have told us is just unfair.”

Customers have been following Cox’s invitation to join in a discussion about wireless pricing fairness on the company’s Facebook page (click the logo above to access).  From a quick review of comments, customers want lower pricing, more bundled discounts, a better handset selection, better speed, and our personal favorite – no Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps and limits on their data network.

Cox is rolling out a major marketing campaign to promote Cox Wireless, including advertising and discussions on company-produced programs airing on Cox Cable systems in the communities where service will arrive this spring.

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Cox Wireless Advertising Campaign.flv

Cox Wireless’ marketing campaign includes three ad spots and a website intro. (2 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Cox Connections 1-2010.flv

Cox Cable in Hampton Roads, Virginia briefly mentions Cox Wireless in ‘Cox Connections,’ a company-produced program airing on Cox Cable.  (6 minutes)

Cox Cable called attention to new usage cap allowances in Broadband Reports’ Cox Cable forum.

Cox more than doubled its usage cap allowances for several of their broadband tiers.  Cox offers different speeds in different markets for their broadband tiers, depending on how much competition they face.

Most Cox Cable customers don’t even realize there are usage limits on broadband service, because the company rarely enforces them.  No measurement tool is provided by Cox to allow customers to see what they are consuming on a monthly basis.  Instead, the company currently only contacts customers who create a significant negative impact on their network, and then point the customer to the terms and conditions which include their usage cap limits.  One Cox customer posted their usage showing they consistently exceeded Cox’s old caps by several times over and was never contacted by the company.

Their new caps are more comparable with Comcast than some other providers who have tried usage caps designed to play “gotcha” with customers, and then charge them overlimit fees and penalties when they exceed them.  Cox does not charge overlimit fees or penalties.

Cox also specifically exempted its own Voice Over IP “digital phone” service from usage caps, which gives them a competitive advantage should Cox begin tighter enforcement of their usage cap allowances:  “Cox Digital Telephone is a separate service for which you pay and does not count toward your Monthly Bandwidth Allowance.”

Customers have expressed appreciation for the more generous usage caps, but are even more pleased that Cox has never strongly enforced any of them.

Still, Stop the Cap! calls on Cox to forget about usage caps.  It’s apparent the vast majority of your customers do not present an enforcement issue anyway, so why inconvenience customers with confusing bandwidth allowances.  Those that do create a major problem on the network can be dealt with within the scope of the existing Acceptable Use Policy.  That’s simpler broadband service every consumer can understand, and enhances customer goodwill for Cox’s broadband products.

Economy/Lite/Basic Package

Starter Package

Essential Package

Value Package

Preferred Package

Premier Package

Premier Plus Package (requires a DOCSIS 3 Modem)

Ultimate Package (requires a DOCSIS 3 Modem)

Cox Cable DOCSIS 3 modem

Cox Cable’s ‘Ultimate Internet’ broadband tier is now available to Cox customers in Rhode Island.  Offering 50Mbps downstream and 5Mbps upstream, the premium speed service sells for $109.99 a month with an annual contract.  The service comes as a benefit from the recent upgrade to DOCSIS 3 technology in Cox Cable’s Rhode Island service area.  Cox Cable has generally unenforced usage allowances on all of their broadband service tiers.  Theoretically, the ‘Ultimate Internet’ tier is limited to 300GB downstream and 100GB upstream traffic per month, but very few Cox Cable customers have ever been contacted about their usage, regardless of the amount.

Joel Evans, a Cox Cable customer living in Rhode Island, posted a review of his experience with the new Cox Cable broadband tier on Geek.com:

Before the upgrade I was peaking around 21 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload. These were actually great speeds considering that the promised speed was really more around 20 Mbps and 3 Mbps, respectively. After the upgrade, however, I noticed an incredible speed bump. Instead of the promised 50 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up, I received 65 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up. I can only imagine that these will probably fluctuate over time.

It wasn’t until I was recently asked by Cox how my experience has been that I noticed how much of a difference more bandwidth makes. For example, I stream Hulu to my Apple TV (thanks to boxee) and usually there’s a bit of lag with the stream. Nowadays it streams right away as if I’m watching live television.

A mandatory service call by Cox Cable is required for installation, because technicians will check line quality and also swap out a customer’s older cable modem with one capable of handing DOCSIS 3 “channel bonding,” which allows multiple cable channels to be connected together to permit faster broadband speeds.

Cox plans to expand availability of the ‘Ultimate Internet’ tier to more than two-thirds of its systems by the end of 2010.

Bronson Riley realized not long ago that he and his wife were paying way more for cable television than they were getting out of it. They watched only a few shows each week.

At the time, he was reading a book on personal finance. It mentioned purchasing services “a la carte” rather than as a package.

The Lincoln, Nebraska resident knew that wasn’t an option for cable TV. So he cut the cord about two months ago, canceling his cable subscription. Now the couple watch what they want, when they want — online.

The mainstream press has started devoting more attention to the plight of cable television executives pondering what to do about “parasites” like Bronson Riley, who they see as poaching their programming and watching it online… for free.

One of the unintended consequences of the unveiling of TV Everywhere, the Comcast/Time Warner Cable concept of permitting “authenticated” viewers to watch cable programming online, (as long as they already subscribe to a standard “cable package”) is an exploration of the phenomenon of  consumers cutting cable’s cord and doing without.

Riley touches on an issue that has bugged cable consumers for decades now — paying for channels they didn’t ask for and don’t want.  In the 1980s and early 1990s, talk about 500 channels of cable programming was dismissed as fanciful, but has since become reality when one includes on demand and music channels.  What has also become an increasing reality for cash-strapped consumers is the bill at the end of the month, which has grown annually faster than the rate of inflation.

A-la-carte, simply defined as paying only for those channels you watch, is an alarming concept for the nation’s cable television operators.  They have resisted the concept for more than 20 years, when it was first seriously raised in congressional hearings to deal with runaway cable bills.

Unfortunately for the industry, most consumers have suggested they have no need for most of the channels they receive today, and are tired of paying for them.  Many consumers would be happy with just six channels they routinely watch,  eager to pay only for them and nothing else.

With this in mind, some customers who also have broadband service from their cable provider have begun to discover many of their favorite shows are available, on demand, for free.  With more and more shows becoming available, a small, but growing minority of cable subscribers have decided to drop cable TV and watch video online instead, an issue the Omaha World-Herald explored:

Andrea Riley watches “Desperate Housewives” at ABC.com, which streams free full episodes of that and other popular shows such as “Lost” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” often the day after they air. The couple buy episodes of another favorite, “The Soup,” a revamp of “Talk Soup” on E! Entertainment Television, on Apple’s iTunes for $1.99 each with only a day’s wait.

Even paying for the handful of shows they can’t get free legally, Riley figures watching TV online saves money. The only thing they miss is flipping on CNN Headline News and the Weather Channel in the morning.

“It’s all getting to watch the TV shows you want to watch at a cheaper price, at your convenience,” he said.

In making the switch, the Rileys have joined a small but growing number of people who are tuning in online rather than over traditional network, cable or satellite pipelines. Some watch online occasionally to catch up on an episode they’ve missed or to track down old or obscure shows. Others, like the Rileys, watch online routinely.

For now, only a minority of web-aware consumers understand how to watch television online, but that’s changing.

“People are just figuring this out,” Jeremy Lipschulz, director of the University of Nebraska at Omaha School of Communication said. “Once people figure out that all this content is out there, you’ll see a more dramatic shift.”

Bobby Tulsiani, a senior analyst with the market research firm Forrester Research, agreed it’s still tech types who are making the change. Two years from now, more people will be doing it, he told the World-Herald.

Ann Shrewsbury, public affairs director for Time Warner Cable Nebraska, said their business trends nationwide show the same thing.

That leaves cable operators like Time Warner Cable in a quandary, and they’ve thus far responded with a trial to stream cable shows online, on demand, for their customers.  But the catch is one must remain a cable TV subscriber to access it.

Across many parts of Nebraska, served by Cox Cable, they’ll be left out of the online video revolution on offer from Time Warner Cable and Comcast, at least until Cox Cable can negotiate its way into the project being run by its larger brethren.

Riley said he generally doesn’t miss cable, having spent more of his time online or watching movies on demand, except for local weather from The Weather Channel and catching up with news on Headline News.  He doesn’t regret the savings either.  Most standard cable tiers are priced higher than his broadband service.

But Riley does recognize there is one way to put a stop to the revolution and end the parade to true, on-demand television viewing on a “pay per view” or free basis: limits on his Internet service.

With Internet overcharging schemes like usage limits, or charging overlimit fees for “excessive consumption,” cable operators might hope to stop the threat before it gets out of hand.