Posted on 08/21/2003 1:17:41 PM PDT by rface
"I’d be pretty ticked off" if the free-cable arrangement ended, said Leslie Bennett, a Paquin Tower resident who likes to watch Cardinals baseball on Fox Sports.
...if Virginia Piltz had to pay for cable TV, she’d have to go without groceries..."I’d go nuts if I didn’t have it"
Virginia Piltz is confined to a motorized cart and hampered by the crumbling sidewalks and curbs around her Paquin Tower apartment as well as handicap-inaccessible stores and restaurants.
A simple trip to the movies becomes an expedition involving a special van. Piltz often relies on cable television to provide a window to the world via the Discovery, Food and Weather channels.
That’s why Piltz is dismayed by the possibility that Mediacom might stop free cable service to residents of Paquin Tower and Oak Towers, public housing high-rise apartments. Piltz is on a fixed income, and if she had to pay for cable TV, she’d have to go without groceries if she wanted cable, she said.
"I’d go nuts if I didn’t have it," Piltz said.
On Monday, Columbia Housing Authority Executive Director Doris Chiles told the Columbia City Council that Mediacom had notified her of the possible change because the company could find no record indicating the company or its predecessors had pledged to provide the service.
If they don’t find a letter that established the pledge as a practice, Mediacom officials said, they might have to start charging for the service.
The service costs $44.90 per month for the average consumer, although a bulk purchase by the housing authority would amount to fees of $35 per month, depending on what deal the city and housing authority could strike with Mediacom. The housing authority owns and operates both towers.
Chiles raised the issue in a hearing on the renewal of Mediacom’s franchise contract with Columbia. Already, Mediacom has taken heat from local public-access cable proponents who claim the firm hasn’t taken seriously its requests to establish a public-access cable channel.
The council is considering whether to renew Mediacom’s cable contract with the city, where there are 46,000 subscribers.
"We’re looking for a yes-or-no answer," Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Loveless said. "Will there be continued free service to Paquin and Oak towers?"
"The product isn’t ours to give away," answered Arnold Cool, regional vice president for Mediacom, who attended the meeting with Mediacom Senior Director of Operations Gary Baugh and Mediacom Government and Community Relations Manager Stan Melton. "We need to clear it with the CEO."
Baugh said yesterday that the issue surfaced because Mediacom needs documentation to account for the free cable service it provides. Baugh said the firm is paying for the cable programming for the towers but isn’t reimbursed for the service by the housing authority.
Baugh said the free programming could continue for the towers but it would have to be negotiated during renewal of the cable franchise. Otherwise, the housing authority would probably be billed at a bulk rate that would be decided during negotiations.
Chiles said the housing authority was unable to afford cable service for the 347 residents who now get it.
Regardless, Baugh said, no changes in cable service would occur until late next year or early 2005, when the new franchise agreement goes into effect. Baugh said free cable service has been provided to Paquin and Oak towers for as long as cable television has been available, but Mediacom hasn’t been able to find a contract that commits the cable provider to that service.
Chiles told the council Monday that she hasn’t been able to locate such a contract, either. The service also isn’t mentioned in the city’s ordinance regarding cable franchise regulations.
The matter has been referred to the council’s cable television committee.
The residents at both buildings are anxiously awaiting the outcome.
"I’d be pretty ticked off" if the free-cable arrangement ended, said Leslie Bennett, a Paquin Tower resident who likes to watch Cardinals baseball on Fox Sports.
Get a job and pay for it yourself, BUM.
I think if Mrs. Piltz got her FREE (Grandma always told me "nuttin' is free boy") cable taken away and had to do something else (hopefully physical), she wouldn't need the Rascal
Based on her picture, this might not be a bad idea.
This is unfreaking believable.
This thread reminds me of a song a friend of mine wrote back in the 80's titled: Welfare people shouldn't get HBO.
It was almost a hit!
Sheeeeeeeeeeesh. And ya know, we've made do just fine.
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