Net Users’ Interests Given Short Shrift

Thu., July 8, 1999

By Doug Floyd dougf@spokesman.com

Six months ago, the city of Spokane and Spokane County went to bat for cable television subscribers or so it seemed at the time. Before agreeing to transfer TCI of Spokane’s cable franchise to AT&T, which bought TCI, the local governments insisted that “competition and consumer choice in cable broadband Internet service be ensured.”

That language acknowledges cable’s capacity to deliver Internet access at the speeds demanded by today’s, and tomorrow’s, highoctane users. Having raised the expectation of competition, however, local officials have hesitated to enforce it. Rather than act locally, they are deferring to the Federal Communications Commission, a stand that might make county residents wonder why there is a cable advisory board.

Federal law requires TCI to make 13 of its channels available for lease to independent programmers. There have been few takers; less than one channel is leased now.

Enter Internet On-Ramp. The Internet service provider wants to lease a channel from TCI - for $20,000 a month - over which to provide high-speed Internet access. Because Internet content includes some television programming, IOR believes it qualifies as programmer under the leased-access requirement. TCI and AT&T, which are marketing their own high-speed service, think otherwise. They say they are the competition envisioned in the franchise transfer. Their arrival forced US West, which can deliver Internet over certain high-speed telephone wires, to reduce its prices, they note.

At present, though, TCI’s high-speed Internet is available to only 30 percent of its subscribers, and US West’s is available only in downtown Spokane. Meanwhile, IOR claims it could be delivering Internet access over leased cable in two months to anyone with cable service. That sounds like increased competition. However, with two seats vacant, one member absent and the chairman abstaining, the 11-seat Cable Advisory Board voted 4-3 last week to disapprove IOR’s request, largely because the FCC already is considering whether Internet constitutes video for leased-access purposes. Better to just let the feds decide, they decided.

The questionable margin further weakens the significance of the recommendation, which was of little force already since the City Council decided weeks ago to take no action until the FCC ruled. All this should leave the dozens of witnesses who testified during some eight hours of advisory board hearings wondering how vigorously local officials promote consumer interests.

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