Comcast to Apologize to Congress on PEG Maneuver
Exec Cohen To Say Cable Firm Fumbled Move of Government Channels to Digital
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 1/28/2008 11:38:00 PM
WASHINGTON – In a contrite statement, Comcast Corp. executive vice president David Cohen is planning to apologize to a House subcommittee Tuesday afternoon for fumbling a plan that required thousands of Michigan subscribers to obtain at least one digital set-top box to view local public, educational, and government (PEG) channels.
"In retrospect, we failed to communicate adequately our goals and to work cooperatively with our local partners to produce a `win' for everyone. This is not the way we want to do business – in Michigan or in the rest of the country – and I want to apologize for that," Cohen is planning to say, according to a copy of his testimony obtained Monday by Multichannel News.
Cohen is scheduled to testify before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
Comcast's plan to move PEG channels to digital would have affected about 40% of its 1.3 million Michigan customers.
Local officials and House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) became upset because Comcast offered to provide each household one free digital set-top but later start to charge about $4.20 per month for the device.
Comcast also planned to charge $4.20 per month immediately for each additional set-top needed to view PEG channels. On Jan. 14, a federal judge in Michigan blocked Comcast from going forward.
While Cohen's testimony had a conciliatory tone, he stressed that the entire planet is going digital and that Comcast is trying to reclaim analog capacity in a manner that did not inconvenience customers. Although Comcast is taking heat now for moving PEG channels to digital, it might find itself being criticized at some point for keeping PEG as an analog service, Cohen says in his testimony.
"Frankly, if we do not deliver PEG programming in digital format, it will not be long before PEG programmers complain about being abandoned in an analog wasteland," Cohen's testimony says.
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paul Mcwilliams mentions letting the customer buy their digtal box, the government has a coupon plan in place that allows just that, the coupon is for 40 dollars towrds the purchase of a plain vanilla box. And I agree with the comments about Martin and his resume for ATT, he's always had a chip on his shoulder for cable, wonder how that will work out seeing as how ATT is now in the cable TV business, oh well. I've always been on the side of folks that think before a government official can go to work for a company that was under the control/oversight of their particular office there needs to be a waitng period, the higher the govt office + the length of service the longer the wait.
John Drake - 2/5/2008 1:26:00 PM EST -
Talk about wanting to eat the cake and have it too - congress and the FCC simply don't get it. The FCC screams for ala carte programming, but won't support cable's digital initiative. The simple truth is you can't have economical ala carte without first going digital. Oh well, this is just one more example of how Martin likes to mindlessly attack cable - I wonder, is this a part of what it takes to get a consulting job with ATT when he leaves the FCC?
The thing to force, if there is anything to force at all, is that customers be allowed to buy digital set top boxes rather than being forced to rent. However, better than forcing anything, the government (at all levels) should just get the heck out of the way and let cable, telecom and satellite compete - if they do that, the U.S. will become the worldwide broadband leader rather than its current status of being in about 17th place.
paul mcwilliams - 1/29/2008 1:05:00 PM EST
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