MI Town Sues Comcast Over Franchising Fees → Re: Comcast will pass on the legal fees now

That'd be a nice punch in the face. What a good idea, I agree.

It would be a shame to lose the 125 subscribers in Saline Michigan.

Why should Comcast fund local government access channels that no one watches?

Yeah, and when they get their $60K they'll have to come up with the balance in cash to pay Comcast for the value of the network which is obviously worth more than $60K.

What Comcast ought to do is run a 24/7 channel about every one of these political hacks and all the wasteful spending they're engaged in...put their lives under a microscope.

Because they agreed to a legally binding contract that stated they would do so.

It appears that they had an agreement, and then the voters changed the law. I hate comcast as much as the next person, but considering how few people are customers in that area I'm surprised they didnt just say "fine, someone else can deal with you, we dont make any money off you anyways".

Plus, the tax is paying for debt from some school program, how is it their responsibility to subsidize education?

Yes, in 2006, as a response to demands from incumbents (Comcast). The law took effect January 1, 2007.See subsection 8 of the Michigan Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Act. In short, because Comcast agreed to 2% PEG.

Not saying you made this argument in the past. But I love how a company has to abide by a contract but that when a consumer wants to get out of a contract, it is the big company pushing the little guy.

Both Comcast and consumers need to abide by their contracts.

I agree.

In the past, a company took the hit and wrote it off as goodwill/PR. These days, it seems, consumers feel entitled to contract renegotiation any time they discover something unwanted in an agreement - like terms of service.

2 people moved yesterday they only got 123 customers

Yes but they notified Comcast that they were GOING TO apply for a 2% increase.. in April of 07. Which has noting to do with the 2006 Franchise agreement.

"The suit, filed Aug. 8, asserts that Saline, a city of 8,800 residents located south of Ann Arbor, notified Comcast on April 30, 2007 that it was applying a 2% fee on Comcast's gross revenues. The city wants the money to pay down expenses that the local school district incurred when it set up a studio in a new high school there. The studio trains students in production and provides playback of city council meetings.

City officials said Comcast refused to pass the fee through to consumers because it would increase subscribers’ bills.

“We'd feel better about that excuse if they didn't take such big rate increases every year,” Saline mayor Gretchen Driskell said in a prepared statement."

And the annual rate increase have little to do with raking everyone over the coals and everything to do with keeping content overhead down.