Comcast pays back overdue franchise fees to get city’s merger approval
Minneapolis city buildings also get free basic cable for seven years.
*by Jon Brodkin**
**Multichannel News**
**
**Jan 27 2015, 10:30am CST*
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/01/comcast-pays-back-overdue-franchise-fees-to-get-citys-merger-approval/
Comcast has been going across the country seeking city-by-city
support of its Time Warner Cable acquisition, giving local governments a
chance to ask for favors in exchange for approving a franchise transfer.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the process turned up an unpaid bill of
$40,000, so Comcast will have to pay the city money it already owed in
order to get the franchise transfer. Comcast will also throw in $50,000
worth of free service and equipment.
"Thirty Minneapolis city buildings
<http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@clerk/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-136576.pdf> will
get free basic cable for the next seven years as part of a package of
concessions
<http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@clerk/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-136547.pdf> the
city wrung out of Comcast in exchange for blessing its proposed merger
with fellow cable giant Time Warner," Minnesota Public Radio reported
<http://blogs.mprnews.org/cities/2015/01/mpls-blesses-comcast-merger-gets-some-free-cable/>.
"Comcast has also agreed to pay Minneapolis $40,000 in overdue franchise
fees after an audit found it underpaid the city for its use of the
public right of way over the last three years."
Minneapolis cable customers will pay another 36 cents a month to support
public access programming.
"The concessions Minneapolis won are relatively small compared to the
$4.5 million it will get from Comcast this year in fees. But if you’ve
ever tried to get a refund
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/technology/wp/2014/08/11/he-got-comcasts-bogus-charges-to-him-refunded-but-only-because-he-recorded-their-calls/> from
the company, you know it probably wasn’t easy," the report noted.
Some cities
<http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/10/its-a-terrible-company-comcast-not-welcome-in-city-council-says/> have
driven a hard bargain in negotiations with Comcast, but the company has
secured about 90 percent of the necessary transfers.
If Comcast's purchase of Time Warner Cable is approved by the federal
government, Minneapolis won't be served by Comcast anymore. Part of the
deal involves the spinoff of a new cable company called GreatLand
Connections
<http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/09/comcast-spinoff-greatland-connections-to-be-5th-largest-cable-company/> that
will serve 2.5 million customers in the Midwest and Southeast, including
Minnesota. After the deal, Comcast's franchises in those areas would be
transferred to GreatLand.
FCC Has Collect Call for Phone Companies
Verizon, Advanced Tel Subject of Commission Fines 1/26/2015 4:15 PM Eastern
<http://www.multichannel.com/users/jeggerton>
*By: John Eggerton <http://www.multichannel.com/users/jeggerton> *
<https://twitter.com/eggerton>
<http://twitter.com/share>
Phone companies were on the hook for millions of dollars Monday as the
Federal Communications Commission signaled Verizon had agreed to pay $5
million to settle an agency inquiry into the telco's alleged failure to
investigate rural call completion issues, and that the agency is fining
Advanced Tel Inc. almost $1.6 million for failing to pay Universal
Service Fund fees.
“All phone companies are required to participate in universal access
programs so that consumers everywhere have access to critical
telecommunications services,” said Travis LeBlanc, Enforcement Bureau
chief, of the Advanced Tel fine. “Service providers who flagrantly
avoid these responsibilities damage these programs and the public
interest, and we demonstrate today that we will hold them accountable.”
Of the Verizon settlement, LeBlanc said: “All Americans, no matter where
they are located, have a right to make and receive phone calls. Phone
companies are on notice that the FCC will hold them accountable for
failures to investigate and ensure that calls go through to the rural
heartland of the country.”
LeBlanc has made it clear that under his watch the Enforcement Bureau
would be an active arm of the FCC.
Verizon is paying $2 million to the U.S. Treasury and will spend $3
million over the next three years to "address the problem of rural call
completion."
"Although the Bureau had significant concerns with Verizon’s failure to
investigate," the FCC said in a statement, "it is encouraged by
Verizon’s commitment of significant resources over the next three years
toward addressing rural call completion and encourages participation by
other industry players and the academic community in the workshops and
other broader efforts that are required under the consent decree."
Verizon has agreed to do the following:
• "Pay a fine of $2 million to the U.S. Treasury;
• "Commit an additional $3 million over the next three years
to address the problem of rural call completion on a company- and
industry-wide basis;
• "Appoint a Rural Call Completion Ombudsman within Verizon
to centralize analysis of rural call completion problems;
• "Develop a system to automatically identify customer
complaints that may be related to rural call completion issues;
• "Limit its use of intermediate providers, i.e.,
telecommunications providers between the Verizon network and the local
rural provider, that are often the source of call completion problems;
• "Monitor its call answer rates to individual rural areas
and conduct an investigation when rates to an area fall below a set
threshold in any month;
• "Host industry workshops and sponsor an academic study on
methods to detect and resolve rural call completion problems;
• "Provide quarterly summaries of its investigations to the
FCC and meet periodically with Commission staff to identify lessons
learned; and
• "Prepare a report to be publicly filed with the Commission
at the end of the three-year compliance period."
TAGS:
FCC <http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fcc> Verizon
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/verizon> Advanced Tel
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/advanced-tel> FCC
Enforcement Bureau
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fcc-enforcement-bureau>
fines <http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fines> settlement
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/settlement>
Share This Post
<http://twitter.com/share>
- See more at:
http://www.multichannel.com/fcc-has-collect-call-phone-companies/387305#sthash.sf8fGid4.dpuf
FCC Has Collect Call for Phone Companies
Verizon, Advanced Tel Subject of Commission Fines 1/26/2015 4:15 PM Eastern
<http://www.multichannel.com/users/jeggerton>
*By: John Eggerton <http://www.multichannel.com/users/jeggerton> *
<https://twitter.com/eggerton>
<http://twitter.com/share>
Phone companies were on the hook for millions of dollars Monday as the
Federal Communications Commission signaled Verizon had agreed to pay $5
million to settle an agency inquiry into the telco's alleged failure to
investigate rural call completion issues, and that the agency is fining
Advanced Tel Inc. almost $1.6 million for failing to pay Universal
Service Fund fees.
“All phone companies are required to participate in universal access
programs so that consumers everywhere have access to critical
telecommunications services,” said Travis LeBlanc, Enforcement Bureau
chief, of the Advanced Tel fine. “Service providers who flagrantly
avoid these responsibilities damage these programs and the public
interest, and we demonstrate today that we will hold them accountable.”
Of the Verizon settlement, LeBlanc said: “All Americans, no matter where
they are located, have a right to make and receive phone calls. Phone
companies are on notice that the FCC will hold them accountable for
failures to investigate and ensure that calls go through to the rural
heartland of the country.”
LeBlanc has made it clear that under his watch the Enforcement Bureau
would be an active arm of the FCC.
Verizon is paying $2 million to the U.S. Treasury and will spend $3
million over the next three years to "address the problem of rural call
completion."
"Although the Bureau had significant concerns with Verizon’s failure to
investigate," the FCC said in a statement, "it is encouraged by
Verizon’s commitment of significant resources over the next three years
toward addressing rural call completion and encourages participation by
other industry players and the academic community in the workshops and
other broader efforts that are required under the consent decree."
Verizon has agreed to do the following:
• "Pay a fine of $2 million to the U.S. Treasury;
• "Commit an additional $3 million over the next three years
to address the problem of rural call completion on a company- and
industry-wide basis;
• "Appoint a Rural Call Completion Ombudsman within Verizon
to centralize analysis of rural call completion problems;
• "Develop a system to automatically identify customer
complaints that may be related to rural call completion issues;
• "Limit its use of intermediate providers, i.e.,
telecommunications providers between the Verizon network and the local
rural provider, that are often the source of call completion problems;
• "Monitor its call answer rates to individual rural areas
and conduct an investigation when rates to an area fall below a set
threshold in any month;
• "Host industry workshops and sponsor an academic study on
methods to detect and resolve rural call completion problems;
• "Provide quarterly summaries of its investigations to the
FCC and meet periodically with Commission staff to identify lessons
learned; and
• "Prepare a report to be publicly filed with the Commission
at the end of the three-year compliance period."
TAGS:
FCC <http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fcc> Verizon
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/verizon> Advanced Tel
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/advanced-tel> FCC
Enforcement Bureau
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fcc-enforcement-bureau>
fines <http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fines> settlement
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/settlement>
Share This Post
<http://twitter.com/share>
- See more at:
http://www.multichannel.com/fcc-has-collect-call-phone-companies/387305#sthash.sf8fGid4.dpuf
FCC Has Collect Call for Phone Companies
Verizon, Advanced Tel Subject of Commission Fines 1/26/2015 4:15 PM Eastern
<http://www.multichannel.com/users/jeggerton>
*By: John Eggerton <http://www.multichannel.com/users/jeggerton> *
<https://twitter.com/eggerton>
<http://twitter.com/share>
Phone companies were on the hook for millions of dollars Monday as the
Federal Communications Commission signaled Verizon had agreed to pay $5
million to settle an agency inquiry into the telco's alleged failure to
investigate rural call completion issues, and that the agency is fining
Advanced Tel Inc. almost $1.6 million for failing to pay Universal
Service Fund fees.
“All phone companies are required to participate in universal access
programs so that consumers everywhere have access to critical
telecommunications services,” said Travis LeBlanc, Enforcement Bureau
chief, of the Advanced Tel fine. “Service providers who flagrantly
avoid these responsibilities damage these programs and the public
interest, and we demonstrate today that we will hold them accountable.”
Of the Verizon settlement, LeBlanc said: “All Americans, no matter where
they are located, have a right to make and receive phone calls. Phone
companies are on notice that the FCC will hold them accountable for
failures to investigate and ensure that calls go through to the rural
heartland of the country.”
LeBlanc has made it clear that under his watch the Enforcement Bureau
would be an active arm of the FCC.
Verizon is paying $2 million to the U.S. Treasury and will spend $3
million over the next three years to "address the problem of rural call
completion."
"Although the Bureau had significant concerns with Verizon’s failure to
investigate," the FCC said in a statement, "it is encouraged by
Verizon’s commitment of significant resources over the next three years
toward addressing rural call completion and encourages participation by
other industry players and the academic community in the workshops and
other broader efforts that are required under the consent decree."
Verizon has agreed to do the following:
• "Pay a fine of $2 million to the U.S. Treasury;
• "Commit an additional $3 million over the next three years
to address the problem of rural call completion on a company- and
industry-wide basis;
• "Appoint a Rural Call Completion Ombudsman within Verizon
to centralize analysis of rural call completion problems;
• "Develop a system to automatically identify customer
complaints that may be related to rural call completion issues;
• "Limit its use of intermediate providers, i.e.,
telecommunications providers between the Verizon network and the local
rural provider, that are often the source of call completion problems;
• "Monitor its call answer rates to individual rural areas
and conduct an investigation when rates to an area fall below a set
threshold in any month;
• "Host industry workshops and sponsor an academic study on
methods to detect and resolve rural call completion problems;
• "Provide quarterly summaries of its investigations to the
FCC and meet periodically with Commission staff to identify lessons
learned; and
• "Prepare a report to be publicly filed with the Commission
at the end of the three-year compliance period."
TAGS:
FCC <http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fcc> Verizon
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/verizon> Advanced Tel
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/advanced-tel> FCC
Enforcement Bureau
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fcc-enforcement-bureau>
fines <http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/fines> settlement
<http://www.multichannel.com/articles-taging/settlement>
Share This Post
<http://twitter.com/share>
- See more at:
http://www.multichannel.com/fcc-has-collect-call-phone-companies/387305#sthash.sf8fGid4.dpuf
_______________________________________________
Medianews mailing list
[email protected]
http://etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews_etskywarn.net
