Cable rate increase related to cost of doing business

(For information about AT&T Cable, call 882-2136. Call 887-2201 for Carson City's cable complaint hot line.)

A raise in rates for cable television in Carson City is related to the cost of doing business, an AT&T spokeswoman said.

Carson City residents have complained recently of a raise in the price for cable television, although the increase is a yearly event.

For Mickie, a South Carson City resident who asked that her last name not be used, the double whammy of a price increase and construction on AT&T Cable system has been an irritant.

"I don't really know what's going on. I can't get anything out of them," Mickie said. "The cable is on sporadically, the rates went up the first of June and then the service gets worse."

AT&T is upgrading its cable system in Nevada to the tune of $50 million. The project started this spring and includes replacement of 3,000 miles of cable lines with new aerial and underground fiber optic lines.

Carson City cable replacement is taking place in Mickie's neighborhood now. She says her cable is off for up to 45 minutes at a time. Numerous calls to AT&T cable have resulted in credits to her bill, but she thinks the interruptions to service and a rate increase at the same time are adding insult to injury.

"I'm 80 years old, and it's company for me," she said. "Maybe for other people it doesn't make a difference. But they're not doing the right thing by the people of Carson City if they're raising rates when service is disrupted. No matter what we ever say, they adopt this cavalier attitude that you can take what you get."

AT&T Cable spokeswoman Barb Shelley said Mickie's experience is unusual.

"Most people never notice a disruption at all," Shelley said. "There are minor disruptions, but most customers don't notice or they didn't pay attention to the direct mail pieces announcing the upgrade.

"We are working on a live system. I guess there's never really a convenient time to expand.

"Sometimes the problem is not in the upgrade, it's with something else. We need our customers to tell us when they're having a problem."

Shelley said construction crews are working from the outside of the city in and should be done with the cable upgrade by the end of the year.

Advertisements run throughout AT&T's cable channels, notifying residents where cable installation is occurring. An ad also runs every Sunday in the Nevada Appeal.

AT&T serves about 135,000 people in Northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe, 30,000 of whom are Carson-area customers. The price increase is related to the increased cost of doing business, nothing else, Shelley said.

"Like any good business, we have to do an evaluation, look at the competition from dish providers, look at the cost of doing business," Shelley said. "'We are in a competitive marketplace, so we have to give value.

"But we have to ask how we can be responsible and make a reasonable profit. We have to do that for our stockholders."

Rates went up about 7.66 percent for basic and expanded basic packages. The price for basic cable went from $10.56 to $11.09. Expanded basic rates went from $18.69 to $20.40, which added to the basic rates makes expanded basic service cost $31.49 a month.

Sometimes agreements with other companies force AT&T to move channels around, changing service, Shelley said.

Liz Teixeira, city administrative assistant, said every year in June rates are raised. Through the city's franchise agreement - and federal law - the city can only protest basic rates.

Beyond that, cable is a "privilege" and rates are not heavily regulated by the federal government.

The city has a 15-year, non-exclusive franchise agreement with AT&T, which was signed in 1987 with AT&T predecessor TCI Cable. The agreement is up for review in July 2002, Teixeira said.

"I hear quite often that cable has a monopoly," Teixeira said. "It's not. Basically, the city has a non-exclusive franchise agreement. What that means is we do have an agreement that allows AT&T to use the city's rights of way.

"However, the non-exclusive part says any other cable company may come in to Carson City and set up a business. When other companies have put the pencil to the paper, it hasn't turned out to be a good business decision for them."

Teixeira said the city has challenged cable rates several times. Most are worked out between the city and the company, she said, but in 1996 the city won a decision from federal cable supervisors which resulted in a refund to Carson City cable customers from TCI.

AT&T's rates are under the federal cap for cable prices, Teixeira said. The city works with a California-based consultant to determine fair rates.

Teixeira said the city does have a television commission which is on hold for the moment.

She said when the city was starting out with public access television, the commission played a pivotal role. Now, there isn't much for the commission to do. When the city begins to negotiate the franchise agreement, the commission will be reorganized, she said.