Don’t forget to tune into News 25 at 9 on My59 (UPN 59, channel 11 on Insight Cable). I’ll be interviewed live by Mike Dimmick as part of their “Blog Bytes” segment.
Category Archives: Television
Watch the 9:00 news July 18 on UPN 59
I’m going to be on TV!
I’ve agreed to be interviewed on “News 25 at 9 on My59” a week from Tuesday, July 18. This will be a live interview with Mike Dimmick, and I have no idea what the topic will be yet. I’m glad Bill Dennis is going to be interviewed first, so I’ll get some idea what to expect.
Be sure to watch! I think I’ll dress business-casual for the occasion… maybe put on a sport coat. I sure hope I don’t sound like a complete idiot — always my greatest fear when being interviewed….
Just imagine if it were “Mohammedtown”
I’m not Catholic, but this story from the Sydney Morning Herald bothers me. MTV plans to air a blatantly sacrilegious cartoon called Popetown, “which depicts the Pope […] bouncing through St. Peter’s in Rome on a cross-like pogo stick and satirizes religious ceremonies.” Non-Catholic Christians might actually chuckle a bit at that, but they’ll stop laughing when they see the advertisement for this series that shows “Jesus apparently getting down from the cross to sit in an armchair and watch the program. The advert’s tagline read: Have a laugh instead of hanging around.”
Not surprisingly, Catholic bishops — especially those from the Pope’s home state of Bavaria — are outraged. As well they should be. If this were a send-up of another religion (for example, Islam), you can bet no one would even consider airing it. Why do broadcasters have no respect or common decency? Didn’t their mothers teach them not to mock other people’s religions? In our supposedly sensitive, tolerant, and politically-correct society, it seems that the only religion no one is required to be sensitive or tolerant toward is Christianity.
Will Peoria’s new cable franchise agreement be moot?
Peoria is in the process of renewing a franchise agreement with Insight Communications. The city has been through this twice before (for a history of cable franchise agreements in Peoria, see my previous post on the topic), so you’d think this is pretty mundane stuff.
Not so. You may surprised to learn that franchise agreements are a hot topic across the nation because of a newcomer to the video-distribution market: phone companies. Yes, telecommunications giants like AT&T and Verizon are spending lots of money upgrading their infrastructure to offer not just better broadband internet access, but cable television. Many believe this new competition will help stabilize cable prices, which are increasing at twice the rate of inflation according to the Consumers Union.
The problem is, these phone companies don’t like negotiating unique cable franchise agreements with each municipality across the fruited plain (like the cable companies have to do). So they’ve been working very hard to do an end run around local municipalities by pushing for statewide franchise agreements. They’ve already succeeded in getting franchise agreements with Texas, Virginia, and our Hoosier neighbors to the east.
So successful they’ve been, phone companies are ready to trump both municipalities and states by pushing for a national franchise agreement. That’s right, legislation was introduced last year in the nation’s capital that would radically change the Telecommunications Act: S.1349/H.R.3146 (“Video Choice Act”), and S.1504 (“Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act”). And this year, a bill will be introduced in the House called the “Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006.” These bills are all designed to take franchising authority out of the hands of cities and states.
There are a couple of groups against — in fact, incensed by — this action: cities and cable companies.
Cities don’t like the idea of losing local control. Franchise agreements offer numerous benefits to communities, such as: compensation for the use of public rights of way (e.g., utility poles, easements); mandates on customer service responsiveness; accessibility for public, educational, and governmental (PEG) purposes (e.g., channels 17 and 22 in Peoria); and requirements to serve the whole city (non-discrimination of service). That’s not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. These agreements are beneficial to cities.
Cable companies don’t like the idea of these phone behemoths being treated as start-ups and given preferential treatment. They’re not buying the sob story from phone giants that it’s just so hard to negotiate all these individual franchise agreements when cable companies have managed to do it for 40 years. Plus, Verizon already has cable franchise agreements covering over two million households, so they don’t seem to be hampered too badly.
What does all this mean for Peoria? At this point, I can’t find any pending Illinois state legislation that would change the franchising process for municipalities, so there’s no threat on that front (correct me if I’m wrong). But if phone companies are successful in their lobbying efforts for national franchise agreements, it would render all Peoria’s current cable negotiations moot, and it could mean more expense to broadcast the city council meetings or the loss of PEG access altogether.
Cable franchise agreement to be extended until July 15
The 20-year cable franchise agreement the City of Peoria has with Insight Communications is set to expire April 15, but the city is offering to extend it until July 15, according to Randy Ray, corporation counsel for the city.
Ray didn’t explain further, so the rest of this post is pure speculation.
It appears the only things the city wants are to have Insight broadcast the city council meetings for free, which would save the city about $32,000 annually, and to have a shorter term for the agreement. I’m going to guess that the $32,000 is not the sticking point, but that the cable company wants a longer agreement. I seem to remember (and I could be remembering this incorrectly) Ray saying that he wanted the new agreement to be for only five years. If that’s the case, that would be a disincentive for a cable company to invest a lot in infrastructure; I could see how it would hold up negotiations.
And Insight is not shy about holding up negotiations. In Decatur, their franchise agreement has been expired for three years and they’re still negotiating a new one. Let’s hope it’s not that bad in Peoria, and that the short three-month extension is a signal that both parties are hoping to come to agreement soon.
Question for council: How are cable negotiations going?
I wonder what the status is of the city’s negotiations with Insight Communications for a new cable franchise agreement. Last June, the City hired the Varnum Riddering firm from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to help them negotiate a new agreement. The current agreement expires on April 15. It looks like these negotiations are not exactly a walk in the park, at least if Decatur is any indication.
According to the Decatur Herald & Review, the Decatur city council is still negotiating their cable franchise agreement, also with Insight, even though their previous agreement expired in 2003. The sticking point appears to be over how much money Insight should be forced to spend for public, educational, and governmental programming:
Brian Gregory, regional director for government relations for Insight . . . said a proposal calls for about $76,000 for new cameras and equipment for the council chambers. The city hopes to expand programming for other governmental and community groups, which could cost up to $300,000.
Money provided for additional cameras or equipment would raise rates, and Insight cable customers in Decatur would “bear the burden” of those costs, Gregory said . . . . City Manager Steve Garman said there is “nothing that we have asked for that is not ordinary and common for cities of our size.”
Peoria is expanding its own programming slightly — adding a new show called “Inside the City” which starts March 2 on channel 22. But, according to the Request for Council Action last June, they were only looking to save $32,000 when they hired Varnum Riddering. So maybe things will go better for Peoria. Still, it would be nice to hear an update.
Bring back the elaborate opening sequence!
My all-time favorite opening sequence for a TV show is Hawaii Five-O. I’ll be willing to bet that just the mention of this show gets you humming its theme song in your head. It was infectious. And then you add the killer video sequence — the tidal wave, the fast-zoom into McGarrett, the girl on the beach — it was genius. I remember being mesmerized by it every week as I sat down with a bowl of popcorn and 16-ounce bottle of RC Cola and watched the show with my family (back in the days when families could sit down and watch TV shows together) on our old console TV.
It seems like every show had an elaborate opening sequence when I was a kid. Remember the ABC Sunday Night Movie? Even they had a huge animated sequence with a lavishly orchestrated theme song that introduced the movie of the week.
It got me wondering…. Why don’t we see elaborate opening sequences like this anymore? Because they’re too costly to produce? They take too much time out of the ever-shrinking run time for most TV shows? Lack of creativity? Whatever the reason is, it’s a shame. They were great fun.
“Inside the City” debut scheduled for March 2nd
I just received the following announcement from Alma Brown, Public Information Officer for the City of Peoria:
Dear Neighborhood Associations,
Inside The City is a new 30-minute talk show that will begin to air on cable channel 22 on March 2nd at 6:30 p.m.
This show will give the City an opportunity provide citizens with information about issues and programs.
I also want to use this time to also give neighborhood associations an opportunity to highlight events or programs. Please let me know if you are interested in being interviewed for the show by sending me an e-mail. Please include all of your event information so that it can be displayed during the show.
I would also like to encourage you to send me letters that you would like to have read during the program.
If you should have any questions, please let me know.
Alma
March 2nd is a Thursday. I live in a glass house on this issue, so far be it from me to throw stones. But I can’t resist asking how interesting it will be to watch Alma Brown read letters from neighborhood associations on TV…. On the other hand, no matter what she did, she’d be hard-pressed to surpass the entertainment value of the city council meeting on Tuesday nights.
State of the City
Mayor Ardis delivered the State of the City address today at the Holiday Inn City Center. HOI News and 1470 WMBD each have good reports. If you’d like to see it for yourself, Insight Communications will be rebroadcasting it tomorrow, January 26th, at noon on cable channel 22.
UPDATE: Jonathan Ahl has informed me that a podcast of the State of the City address is available from www.wcbufm.org. WCBU (89.9 FM) will also be rebroadcasting the address at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 31.
UPDATE 2: The Journal Star has a PDF of the speech on its site.
PR: Insight Communications Announces Family Tiers
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 17, 2006–Insight Communications Company today announced that it will launch a new family-friendly programming tier throughout its footprint this summer. The digital package will include 15 channels of programming at a cost of $13.00 a month. Michael S. Willner, president and CEO of Insight, made the announcement.
The new tier of programming will include Home & Garden Television, Food Network, DIY Network, C-SPAN 2, CNBC, CNN Headline News, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, Discovery Kids, Discovery Science, Nick Games & Sports, The Disney Channel, Toon Disney, PBS KIDS Sprout and Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).
“We have been exploring for quite some time the possibility of adding a new family-friendly tier of services to the numerous digital offerings that we already provide,” said Mr. Willner. “We believe that the package we are introducing will meet the needs of those consumers who only want to watch programming that has a “General Audience” rating or is known to have content that is generally acceptable to families.”
The new tier of services will be available to customers as an add-on to their Basic service, which includes approximately 21 channels. The number of channels on Basic service varies slightly in different areas. A digital set-top box is required to access the tier.
Insight customers who subscribe to other packages of programming will continue to receive all the channels they are accustomed to receiving, including those carried on the Family-Friendly tier.Â
My Take: Cable companies are scared to death there may be legislation forcing them to offer cable channels à la carte, so this is an attempt to placate legislators and their constituents by offering a bundle of family-friendly channels. The biggest agitators for mandating à la carte cable are advocacy groups like the Parents Television Council (PTC). The PTC is unimpressed with cable companies’ efforts to offer a “family tier,” saying that it’s “designed by the cable industry solely to appease Washington lawmakers, not to give a real solution to families concerned with harsh cable content.” They’re likely right about that. Nevertheless, I have a feeling the offer of “family tiers” will succeed in turning down the heat from Washington for à la carte cable.