frequently asked questions
What does the Cable TV Division do?
How long has Iowa City had Cable TV service, and what changes have effected local service?
What is cable deregulation?
Do you handle subscriber complaints?
What kind of complaints can't you handle?
Why is there no cable competion in Iowa City?
Don't some cities start their own cable TV systems?
Why is it that cable rates are so high in Iowa City?
How is it that channels just disappear or are moved around?
I've heard people say they'd like to get just the channels they want to and only pay for those. Why can't subscribers do that?
I've also heard some people complain about the violence and sexually explicit nature of some programming on cable TV. Is there anything that can be done about that?
How do citizens become involved with these kinds of issues in Iowa City?
What does the future of cable TV look like?
How many access channels does Iowa City have, and what do they do?
Are these local channels watched?
If I'm concerned about these issues, what can I do?
Q: What does the Cable TV Division do?
A: The Cable TV Division works to monitor and regulate the cable company. The Cable TV Division also resolves cable-related complaints that can't be resolved with Mediacom. In addition we run City Channel 4 and Interactive Channel 5.
Q: How long has Iowa City had Cable TV service, and what changes have effected local service?
A: Since 1979, when cable tv first came to Iowa City, the local cable system has been owned by Hawkeye Cablevision, Heritage, TCI, AT&T and Mediacom cable companies.
Over the years cable companies – and other media companies have consolidated and grown to be large multinational communications companies.
Today six companies own the vast majority of cable TV companies, programming companies, television stations, radio stations and newspapers. These six companies have a tremendous amount of power and influence over the cost of everything from cable TV to internet costs.
Q: What is cable deregulation?
A:
The City used to control many aspects of cable TV here in Iowa City. But there have been three Congressional laws, or Cable Acts, passed that changed things dramatically. One Act was passed in 1984, one in 1992 and one in 1996. Each law further deregulated the cable industry, leaving the City with less and less control. There are many reasons why this happened, but the result is that cities have much less authority to regulate the cable industry now than they did 25 years ago. Today there is discussion about even more cable TV deregulatory action by Congress.
Q: Do you handle subscriber complaints?
A: One of the things we do is handle complaints from subscribers that range from technical problems to billing issues to customer service problems. You can contact Drew Shaffer at 356-5046 if you have a problem you haven't been able to work out with Mediacom. We'll do our best to help solve the problem. Most of these complaints are handled in a timely manner and the satisfactory resolution rates are high.
Q: What kind of complaints can't you handle?
A: There are a number of complaints we can't resolve and have no control over. Those that come up most often include: why is there no competition, why are rates so high, why can't we just pay for the channels we want, how can channels just be moved or taken away.
Q: Why is there no cable competion in Iowa City?
A: There can be competition in Iowa City. The franchise agreement the City has with Mediacom is not exclusive, so any other cable company could come into Iowa City, get the same kind of franchise agreement and offer service.
There's a problem getting competition here though. The Cable TV Division sends out Iowa City demographic and economic packets of information to every cable company we can find in the US that has experience over-building. Over builders are companies that go into a community with an existing cable company and build a separate competing cable system.
We have received very few responses. All of these responses have said the same things - that they don't have the capital to grow, that they are not looking to expand, and that building a second cable system here is not financially feasible.
Iowa City is not alone in having no competition. In fact, only 2 percent of the cities in the US have competing cable systems.
Q: Don't some cities start their own cable TV systems?
A: There are municipally owned cable systems. In fact, Iowa has more municipally owned cable systems than any other state. However, virtually all of the cities that have a municipally owned cable system also have a municipally owned electric utility. In many cases the municipally owned electric utility's revenue was used to help finance their cable system, and shared infrastructure, like the poles, are used to build out the system. As you know, Iowa City does not currently own its own electric utility. There are also several proposed bills in Congress that would eliminate the possibility of any city being able to own a municipal cable TV system.
Q: Why is it that cable rates are so high in Iowa City?
Cities used to be able to control many of the rates cable companies charged. The deregulatory cable TV laws changed that, so that the only rates the cities can regulate today are for the basic service. Even this authority appears to be in jeopardy because of more legislation being introduced in Congress.
Several times over the years, when the cable companies in Iowa City have proposed basic cable rate increases, the City has challenged these raises at the Federal Communications Commission. Each time we've challenged these increases we've won. As a consequence Iowa City subscribers have seen $190,000 returned to them in the form of rebates - and saved perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future. For all other than basic rates, cable companies can charge whatever they choose.
Some think the rates in Iowa City are way out of control, but the rates for cable TV in Iowa City are about average both nationally and in Iowa. This chart indicates where Iowa City's rates fall:
| City | Cable Company | Monthly Rate |
Channels |
Cost / Channel |
| Muscatine | Municipal | $38.75 | 70 |
$0.55 |
| Cedar Falls Muni | Municipal | $34.50 | 62 |
$0.56 |
| Council Bluffs (1) | Cox | $39.95 | 71 |
$0.56 |
| North Liberty (2) | South Slope | $42.45 | 75 |
$0.57 |
| Cedar Rapids (3) | Mediacom | $41.95 | 72 |
$0.58 |
| Ames | Mediacom | $45.95 | 77 |
$0.60 |
| Davenport | Mediacom | $47.50 | 78 |
$0.61 |
| Des Moines | Mediacom | $43.95 | 71 |
$0.61 |
| Iowa City | Mediacom | $45.95 | 75 |
$0.61 |
| West Des Moines | Mediacom | $43.95 | 71 |
$0.62 |
| National Average (4) | $45.32 | 72.5 |
$0.63 | |
| Dubuque | Mediacom | $45.50 | 72 |
$0.63 |
| Pella | Mediacom | $43.95 | 69 |
$0.64 |
| Mason city | Mediacom | $46.95 | 66 |
$0.71 |
| Sioux City | Cable One | $39.50 | 53 |
$0.75 |
| 1. Shares service with Omaha, a competitive market. 2. South Slope competes with Mediacom, and offers 3 tiers of service -- basic, a mid-level expanded basic with 44 channels and a third tier with 106 channels. For comparison purposes, the figures here are an averaging of the 2nd and 3rd tiers. 3. Competitive market with McLeod. 4. FCC report on cable industry prices, February, 2005. |
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Q: How is it that channels just disappear or are moved around?
A: Again, this is due to Congress and those Congressional Acts mentioned above. Since their passage, there are only a few laws that pertain to the basic tier that the City can still enforce. The City can ensure that all the local access channels are on the basic tier and Federal law ensures all broadcast channels are on the basic tier. The City can also specify the kinds of programming that should be available on the entire cable system, such as children's programming or science fiction programming.
There are now hundreds of channels with all kinds of programming. But the real pinch in terms of channel space is on the basic tier. "Must carry" low power stations - the PAX, UPN and Fox channels are examples of such channels that have been filling up the basic tier. A "must carry" station is one that the cable company has to carry according to Federal law because of it's signal strength.
Many of these low power television stations have sprung up all around the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area. There are now six of them being carried on the basic service tier of the cable system here and once again this is because of Congress and FCC mandates.
The cable company's options are to either move channels such as the Weather Channel or C-Span to an upper tier or move their shopping channels. The cable company has been honest and direct with regard to this matter. The shopping channels create revenue for the company while the other channels don't. So the other channels get moved.
Q: I've heard people say they'd like to get just the channels they want to and only pay for those. Why can't subscribers do that?
A: This issue is being debated in Congress. The majority of cable companies do not want this to occur. There are many reasons, such as bundled programming contracts – those six big companies that require cable companies to put their channels where they want them to be – and have the clout to not supply any programming if the cable company doesn't comply. Cable companies also say that even if someone could choose to pay for a small number of channels the cost to the consumer would end up being higher than they pay now. Those six companies would charge more for channels if they can't “sell” the channels in bundled packages like they do now. They also suggest that some niche channels that don't have a large audience would cease to exist. Because these niche channels have small audiences, fewer people would pay for them and it wouldn't be enough to sustain them.
Q: I've also heard some people complain about the violence and sexually explicit nature of some programming on cable TV. Is there anything that can be done about that?
A: Another idea that is being discussed in Congress is a family package of channels. One company, Time-Warner, is already offering such a package. This kind of programming package might include children's programming, weather information and other offerings that most parents would not be concerned about their children watching. This would be separate from existing tiers.
Q: How do citizens become involved with these kinds of issues in Iowa City?
A: The City created a citizen commission for cable TV related matters called the Iowa City Telecommunications Commission or ICTC. This is an advisory body to City Council whose five members are appointed by City Council. The Commission studies cable TV, helps negotiate franchises, oversees complaints, takes reports from the access channels, meets with the cable company on a variety of issues, can hold public hearings, does triennial reviews of the cable company, conducts periodic reviews and evaluations of the company and makes recommendations to City Council.
The Commission just finished helping to negotiate a renewal of the franchise with Mediacom. Given the current Federal laws, the franchise in Iowa City is considered a very good one. Nationally recognized consultants worked with local staff to create a franchise that is as advantageous to the subscribers and the community as it could possibly be – given what the current Federal laws allow.
Q: What does the future of cable TV look like?
A: The outlook for subscribers and cities is not good in several ways. Phone companies, especially Verizon, who are now beginning to offer video in other parts of the country, and Southern Bell or SBC, have lobbied at least 11 states to completely deregulate their services.
Worse, Verizon and others are lobbying in Congress today to eliminate local franchises altogether so that they only need one national franchise. They are getting traction. Proposed legislation, and there have been several such bills introduced in Congress, would virtually eliminate local regulation. In that scenario my office could not help resolve your complaints, regulate any rates for cable TV, or monitor what the cable company is doing. Also, the proposal includes no operational support for the local access. Given the currently proposed legislation, these channels could cease to exist.
In Iowa City we've seen twenty five years of progress in a variety of areas. Technology has rapidly changed and offered new, diverse services. Complaints and rates have been monitored and regulated with some success. The local access channels have grown and improved. However, all local regulation and local access channels are being threatened in Congress. If you're concerned about this, your Congressional representatives need to hear from you.
Q: How may access channels does Iowa City have, and what do they do?
A: A lot of people don't give the local access channels much credit or value. But these channels are the last place in mass media where freedom of speech exists and they are the only sources of video programming made by our community, about our community, for our community.
All of the access channels in Iowa City are operated by separate entities. THEY ARE NOT ALL PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNELS. There is only one public access channel 18 in Iowa City. There is a Library channel 10 which is run by the Library. There is a school channel 21, run by the schools. There is a University channel 17, which is run by the University and the Kirkwood channel 11 is operated by Kirkwood. Each channel offers unique programming that is not available anywhere else. These channels exist to let you know more about your community. It is programming you can't get anywhere else.
The public access channel operation is run by PATV, a local nonprofit organization, which offers anyone in the Iowa City area the possibility of making their own programming. It is the only place left to speak your mind. This ability doesn't exist anywhere else on the cable system, on radio or television stations nor the newspapers. Today, when all the media is controlled by 6 multi-national corporations, such an opportunity should not be quickly dismissed. Soon you may not have any place to say what you want and get your message across to the people of your community.
The Cable TV Division operates Channels 4 and 5. Channel 4 is the local government channel that brings you City Council meetings and programming that is educational, historical and informational. Channel 5 is the City's interactive channel. It offers Video on Demand as well as 50 categories of City and community information as well as access to the World Wide Web.
The Cable TV Division manages the Community Television Service. This service offers any nonprofit organization in Iowa City assistance in making a public service announcement or video program - from idea stage to script, production, post production and distribution - free of charge. In this way it is a unique service and the only one of it's kind.
Q: Are these local channels watched?
A: You may be surprised to know that the Iowa City access channels are well known and relatively highly viewed. Several access channels are viewed more frequently than other channels, such as Lifetime, ESPN Classic, BET, Speed, Spike TV, Outdoors Channel, and many others.
Q: If I'm concerned about these issues, what can I do?
A: If further deregulation of cable TV, the loss of rate control, complaint resolution, the loss of local channels concerns you, please contact your Congressional and state representatives and let them know your thoughts.
You may contact your representatives and the ICTC in the following ways:
Senator Chuck Grassley, 135 Hart Senate Bldg., Washington, DC
20510.
Phone 202-224-3744
www.grassley.senate.gov
email form
Senator Tom Harkin, 731 Hart Senate Office Bldg., Washington, DC
20510.
Phone:
202-224-3254
www.harkin.senate.gov
email form
Congressional Representative Jim Leach, Plaza Centre One, 125 S. Dubuque, Iowa City, IA. 52240.
Phone:
319-351-0789.
www.house.gov/leach
email
You can find out more about the ICTC at www.icgov.org
All ICTC meetings take place the fourth Monday of every month, at 5:30PM unless posted otherwise. They meet at 10 S. Linn St., Third floor, in the Cable TV Offices.
You can find franchise information here, or at the City Clerk's office.
