Cable Franchise Renewal and Changing Technology Sue Miller Buske The Buske Group 4808 T Street Sacramento, CA

n Build an Educated Renewal Team n Create Franchise Renewal Work Group n Include community leaders, PEG leadership, and City staff n Brief Council on renewal basics, anticipated process, and timeline n Initial and ongoing n Determine information needed n Past Performance n Future Needs & Interests n Determine ways to gather that information n Research tools n Use multiple information-gathering techniques Outline for Success

n Past Performance Review activities will include:  Franchise fee/financial review of cable operator  Franchise compliance review  Technical review of the cable system  Public Input gathered during needs assessment process  Preparing reports that document the findings Past Performance Compliance Review

n Needs Assessment activities to identify future community needs and interests may include: n Focus group workshops (constituency-based) n Telephone survey n On-line survey(s) n Stakeholder meetings/interviews n Gathering strategic & communication plans n Review of current PEG Access facilities & operations n Evaluate condition of equipment, facilities, services n Public hearing n Reports that document the findings of all activities and make recommendations Needs Assessment Process

n Ask questions in a clear and unbiased fashion n Ask questions that could yield helpful information for assessing future needs  It’s about more than just “I want lower cable rates” n Examine longitudinal trends if possible n Ask questions of both subscribers and nonsubscribers  You are assessing community needs and interests, not only current subscriber needs and interests A Few Tips

n Analysis of brainstorming and question in survey can identify troubling issues  For example, do people say they purchased a package for a specified price that wasn’t what they ended up getting? n What does this tell us about what should be included in the renewal franchise? Interesting Findings

n Subscribers and HD  59% of subscribers pay extra to receive an HD tier of service (average of responses to 9 recent on-line surveys)  About 1/3 of these HD subscribers said they rarely or never watch programs that are NOT delivered in HD n What does this tell us about what should be included in the renewal franchise? Interesting Findings

n Communities with PEG HD Channels (partial list)  Portland, Oregon (Comcast)  Gresham, Oregon (Comcast)  St. Paul, Minnesota (Comcast)  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Comcast)  Vancouver, Washington (Comcast)  Tacoma, Washington (Comcast)  Manhattan, New York (Verizon, Time Warner, RCN)  Brooklyn, New York (Verizon, Time Warner, Cablevision)  Bronx, New York (Verizon, Cablevision) Key Franchise Provisions

n Communities with PEG HD Channels (partial list)  Barre, Cabot, Chelsea, Marshfield, and 8 other Vermont cities/towns (Charter)  Fairfax County, Virginia (Cox)  Lexington, Massachusetts (RCN)  Stoneham, Massachusetts (RCN)  Newton, Massachusetts (RCN)  Framingham, Massachusetts (RCN)  Brookline, Massachusetts (RCN)  Weston, Massachusetts (RCN)  Waltham, Massachusetts (RCN) Key Franchise Provisions

n PEG Channels on Electronic Program Guide  About 50% of subscribers indicated that the EPG is their most frequently used source of information to decide what to watch on cable TV (average of responses to 5 recent telephone surveys)  Subscribers in these surveys reported that they used the EPG about 3 times as often as any other source to find cable TV programming information n What does this tell us about what should be included in the renewal franchise? Interesting Findings