In light of Comcast CEO Robert L. Cohen’s refusal to consider Detroit-area Congressman John Dingell’s request to stop Comcast's plan to move
Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) channels to 900's, Flint-area public access producers are organizing a boycott of Comcast beginning
January 14th.
Paul Herring of "Save Access Flint" understands fully how the cable giant's recent decisions, including their handling of the digital conversion, is
impacting the community. Herring said, “We don’t want to stop the digital transition - we want to help it be a smooth ride. We could be working
together on this. However, given their recent actions, Comcast doesn't appear to have any intent of working with the communities they dominate."
Since December, Comcast has announced a series of devastating decisions. They include:
1. Firing longtime Public Access staffers across the state.
2. Closing all Public Access studios.
3. Terminating all equipment libraries.
4. Terminating community training in video production and editing.
5. Eliminating community calendars.
6. Moving playback facilities for all community public access stations to Southfield.
7. Removing programming listings in TV and program guides.
8. Raising cable rates by 13.5% .
“It’s not rocket science," said Flint public access producer Ted Jankowski. "They see a way to make more money. By doing this they can charge
people more for a service that is already provided. It's logical that PEG programing should be available at the lowest-priced level. Our legislators
should be ashamed of themselves. All but six voted in support of legislation.
“It's further proof that Comcast, our state government, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), have all abandoned the basic ideal of
localism in broadcasting," said Robert Mabbitt, a Flint area media activist. "Now that the State of Michigan has superseded municipalities' right to
negotiate for local people, local people who rely on public access for locally produced programs addressing the local issues that local network
affiliates will not touch, are left with nothing.”
Many citizens have said this is the last straw. Janice Muhammad of Flint said, “It's too dab gum hard to figure all this stuff out. I need a box? But I
can’t get a box? There are free boxes! But they're not available yet? My rates are up and I am still going to have to pay more to watch even the
basic stuff. Phew! I am done. They can have it.” Even award-winning comedian Mark Bonto, who hosts his public access comedy show, is fed up.
"It's completely ridiculous," he said, "The fees keep going up. The service is bad. They took the equipment and facilities away from us. They put us
on a higher-tiered channel. Not only that, but the Playboy channel doesn't come in good enough!"
Herring and other public access supporters are not backing down. They are encouraging others to join them in voicing their displeasure with
Comcast. “We want people to boycott Comcast services. Phone, internet, and TV. We may even go as far as boycotting advertisers. If you can’t
boycott, protest by paying your cable bill with $1 dollar bills or coins, request a service call when you're not home, request phone service then
change your mind, flood their switchboard with complaints. Bottom line, cost them money – it's the only thing they respond to. We want Comcast to
have to win us back by restoring Public Access, and by putting the customer back into 'customer service' by doing the right thing!”
The Boycott is to begin January 14th, the day before PEG channels move to the digital service. It is also the day that citizens will have to go to
Comcast's building on Torrey Road to pick up their "free" digital converter. Herring said, “It is horrible that Comcast would choose Martin Luther
King’s birthday to silence community voices. As we celebrate a man that stood for so many freedoms, it seems we can choose to lie down and take
a symbolic hosing from Comcast or boycott.” It's not complex! It's Comcast!
"The producers and activists are also encouraging the public to take action on Super Bowl Sunday by watching the game through a provider other
than Comcast. The group will be distributing literature at area night clubs, sports bars and restaurants on game day, February 3rd, the largest
television adverting celebration of the year, to build awareness of the fate of public access and the boycott of Comcast Cable. "
_________________ The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
John F. Kennedy, speech at Vanderbilt University, May 18, 1963
Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:02 am
terrybankert F L I N T O I D
Mabbitt put the Producers announcement on Flint Citizen. I placed it on the bulletin board for Flint MI on Facebook. MYSPACE and CRAIGS list are a waste of time. I will launch emails later today. Somebody should post to MLIVE. I cannot.
I suggest some targeted one on one. My office can be used to meet.
trb
Lawsuit seeks to block Comcast's plan on local access channels
1/15/2008, 1:30 a.m. ESTThe Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Comcast cannot move community access channels higher up the dial — and out of the reach of thousands of Michigan cable subscribers with analog televisions — under a temporary order issued by a Macomb County judge.
Chief Circuit Judge David Viviano's ruling could affect 400,000 Comcast customers statewide.
The Detroit Free Press said Comcast had no immediate comment.
The cable company planned Tuesday to move public, educational and governmental access (PEG) channels across Michigan into the 900-level digital range.
That would require subscribers with analog televisions to buy digital, cable-ready TVs or rent or buy a digital converter box for each set. Comcast had offered to provide customers with a free converter box for one year.
Comcast wanted to move the PEG channels to free up bandwidth so it could offer other services, including high definition stations, to customers paying premium rates.
A federal judge in Detroit issued a similar ruling late Monday in a lawsuit filed by Dearborn and Ingham County's Meridian Township.
Those communities argued before U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts that Comcast planned the change without consulting with the communities, in violation of state and federal law. They also contended that the communities would lose a vital way of communicating with residents.
Viviano scheduled a hearing for Jan. 22 to hear arguments for and against a more permanent order.
1. I think the producers association should lead, where do we post on flint talk or somewhere elese.
I suggest we post to all sites we can but use the producers blog below to caputre everything, I also suggest we post to Flitn Talk and MLIVE is we can get on.
A secondary boycott is an attempt to influence the actions of one business by exerting pressure on another business. For example, assume that a group has a complaint against the Acme Company. Assume further that the Widget Company is the major supplier to the Acme Company. If the complaining group informs the Widget Company that it will persuade the public to stop doing business with the company unless it stops doing business with Acme Company, such a boycott of the Widget Company would be a secondary boycott. The intended effect of such a boycott would be to influence the actions of Acme Company by organizing against its major supplier.
http://law.jrank.org/pages/10073/Secondary-Boycott.html
I do not kn ow the liability for non union efforts so I recommend that we not do this.[trb]
3.We need a statewide focus, I tried to set up a state wide template through MLIVE forums and managed to get my IP banned for life, I suggest you all help, take an MLIVE city register and post unique variations of our actions recommmendations, etc... to one city only...that should met their rules...
4.I would like to read the pleadings referenced in the Detroit nerwspaper article...we need a civil litigator, I am Family law only
5.Again will we use this site to communicate? Which producers shall we go through...
These are quick thoughts..what are yours....
trb
Last edited by terrybankert on Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:57 am
Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D
Here it is. Maybe I need to do a better job of pointing out where it is on the website. Also, if someone knows how to add a RSS feed into a website. Or how that actually works I'd appreciate it.
quote:Ted Jankowski schreef:
Here it is. Maybe I need to do a better job of pointing out where it is on the website. Also, if someone knows how to add a RSS feed into a website. Or how that actually works I'd appreciate it.
Thanks Ted
From: terrybankert
Date: 15 Jan 2008
Time: 10:32:47 -0700
Remote Name: 70.217.201.140...so this is how MLIVE got me!!!
http://www.cityofflint.net/theproducersassociation/saveaccessflint/_disc5/00000008.htm
1. Comments posted to save access flint blog, I suggest we cross post it builds traffic for all sites,[mlive will disagree with me here]
I suggest that the State Wide Forums of MLIVE be divided between us to post with modification articles posted on the Save Access Flint Blog and/or Flint Talk. I cannot post to MLIVE Town Talk Go to http://www.mlive.com/forums/ • Ann Arbor-good • Bay City-good • Flint-good • Grand Rapids-good • Jackson-good • Kalamazoo-good • Muskegon-good • Saginaw-good Metro Detroit most of these are seldom used • Detroit- • Dearborn • Farmington • Livonia • Macomb • Oakland • Pontiac • Southfield • Troy • Warren • Wayne County • Westland Terry Bankert http://attorneybankert.com/ Thanks TED
It appears the post of the producers announcement by somebody other than me 12706 was deleted. Could sombody repost it, lets see what mlive is up to, it may be a sign....but then its just a 10 line slaming chat room with a short life span, we would drive traffic to them.. does mlive know that search engines like content and links...I do not get it..thank you Steve Meyers oh great one....
Last edited by terrybankert on Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:46 pm; edited 1 time in total
Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:40 pm
Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D
Actually it is a combination or the IP address and cookies. Mostly the cookies. I watch this stuff and can pretty much track certain IP addresses and know who was there.
I haven't posted to Mlive in a long time. Mostly because of Whinners that claim your picking on them. Then your posts are deleted. I don't come here as often as I used to for the same reason. Unless your threatening or vulgar. I don't see any reason for someone to be deleted.
But this isn't my blog!
The saveaccessflint one is. I will keep that one on topic. I'll see what I can do about Mlive if I can remmember my ID
Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:06 pm
willy F L I N T O I D
Comcast channel changes on hold
Court steps in amid public access concerns
January 14, 2008
By DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A federal judge late Monday temporarily halted Comcast cable's plans to move community access channels higher up the dial today, putting them beyond the reach of thousands of Michigan cable subscribers with analog televisions.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts in Detroit temporarily prevents Comcast from moving PEG -- public, educational and governmental access -- channels across the state into the 900-level digital range. The move would require subscribers with analog televisions to buy digital cable-ready televisions or rent or buy a digital converter box for each set to continue receiving those channels.
Advertisement
Comcast, which offered to provide customers with a free converter box -- a $4-a-month value -- for one year, said the move was designed to free up bandwidth so it could offer more services, including high-definition channels, to its tech-hungry customers.
"While the court agrees there are some general benefits with digitizing channels, it finds the public interest is better served by the temporary preservation of the PEG channels in their analog format so the public may maintain access to vital information," Roberts said in the 16-page decision.
The court order was issued in response to a lawsuit filed Friday by Dearborn and Meridian Township in suburban Lansing. The communities said Comcast planned the change without consulting with the communities, in violation of state and federal law, and that up to 400,000 customers statewide who couldn't afford to pay for a converter box would lose access to community news. The suit also charged that the communities would lose a vital way of communicating with residents.
There was no immediate comment from Comcast about the decision.
"Hopefully, this reminds Comcast of their obligation to all subscribers," said Meridian Township attorney Michael Watza of Detroit. "And the communities and Comcast can renew our partnership that we've enjoyed for so many years."
He said Comcast could appeal the decision or delay any action until after Roberts or a jury rules on the merits of the lawsuit.
Earlier Monday, Macomb County Circuit Judge David Viviano, issued a similar order in response to a lawsuit filed Monday by the City of Warren. Viviano set a hearing next Tuesday for the two sides to argue the merits of a more permanent order.
Comcast said the lawsuits by the three communities were baseless.
Roberts issued her decision after a confusing and sometimes contentious hearing in Detroit on Monday in which she repeatedly chastised Comcast's lawyer, Robert Scott of Washington, D.C., for failing to abide by the court's civility rule.
A lawyer for the communities said Comcast's plans violate state and federal law.
"These aren't channels they own," their attorney, Joe Van Eaton, also of Washington, D.C., told Roberts. "They're the communities' channels."
Comcast lawyer Scott disputed that Comcast's move would violate federal or state law, saying there are no statutes that allow communities to dictate where cable providers place PEG service. He also said Comcast, unlike its competitors, has provided free cable service to public schools in Michigan and that some of Comcast's competitors don't carry PEG channels.
Scott also said the communities waited too long to ask for the injunction.
"The cities have had 60 days and waited 55 before coming to court to stop this activity," he said. He said it's unfair to present a judge with such complicated legal and technical issues on such short notice.
Comcast employees who testified at Monday's hearing said only about 12,000 of its 400,000 nondigital customers have signed up for a free converter box, but said there are enough boxes for anyone who wants one.
Comcast said in court papers that the PEG switch is part of an industrywide conversion from analog televisions to digital.
Although Congress has mandated broadcasters convert from analog to digital signals in February 2009, Comcast and other cable companies can continue providing analog service. Comcast said it planned to do so for the time being.
Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER at 313-223-4490 or
Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:46 pm
00SL2 F L I N T O I D
quote:terrybankert schreef:
I would like to read the pleadings referenced in the Detroit nerwspaper article...we need a civil litigator, I am Family law only.
Terry, access them with your PACER account at http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/index.html -- The main document is quite lengthy--appears to be 140 pages, broken down into 3 parts.) PACER is available to the public, see terms.
Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:10 pm
Flinn's Journal F L I N T O I D
Comcast channel 17 was still on last night.
_________________ I HAVE SEVERED MY TIES WITH FLINTTALK.COM BECAUSE TROLLS CANNOT BE CONTROLLED ON THIS BOARD.
Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:25 am
Mark Bonto F L I N T O I D
Yes, it looks like they will continue to simulcast for now.
_________________ Watch national award-winning “Comedy On Tap” Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm. Both on Comcast channel 17. Go to my website at: http://markbonto.com and listen to me, and see me live at The White Horse on the radio: Wednesdays 7-7:30am on WKUF 94.3 FM.
John and HC talk with Terry Bankert about the resent changes ComCast Cable Vision has made to pull funding for Public Access Channel
_________________ Steve Myers
Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:27 pm
Flinn's Journal F L I N T O I D
Comcast apologizes over the PEG fiasco:
quote:
Comcast Apologizing Over PEG Programming
Tuesday January 29, 1:09 pm ET
By Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer
Comcast to Strike Conciliatory Tone in Congressional Hearing
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Comcast executive is apologizing for the way the cable company handled a proposed shift of community access programming higher up the dial in Michigan.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was summoning Comcast and others before a House subcommittee to answer questions about the company's interest in moving public, educational and governmental access programming into the 900-level digital channel range in Michigan.
The shift would require subscribers with analog televisions to buy digital, cable-ready TVs or rent or buy a digital converter box for each set. Dingell has raised concerns that it would force consumers to pay additional fees for programming currently guaranteed with basic cable services.
David L. Cohen, Comcast Corp.'s executive vice president, planned to tell the panel that "in retrospect, we failed to communicate adequately our goals and to work cooperatively with our local partners to produce a `win' for everyone."
"That 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," he said in testimony prepared for delivery.
Cohen said Comcast was "now engaged in friendly, and what I am sure ultimately will be fruitful, discussions" with Michigan officials, including Dearborn Mayor John B. O'Reilly Jr., who also was to testify before the committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
Earlier this month, two judges ruled that the cable provider cannot move the community access channels higher up the dial. The temporary order by Macomb County Chief Circuit Judge David Viviano potentially could affect 400,000 Comcast customers in Michigan.
In a separate case, a federal judge in Detroit issued a similar ruling in a lawsuit filed by Dearborn and Ingham County's Meridian Township.
Comcast has offered to provide customers with a free converter box for a year. The cable provider wanted to move the PEG channels to free up bandwidth so it could offer other services, including high definition stations, to consumers paying premium rates.
Cohen planned to tell the panel that Comcast was "not discriminating against PEG channels and are, in fact, taking special care to ensure that the public can access them."
_________________ I HAVE SEVERED MY TIES WITH FLINTTALK.COM BECAUSE TROLLS CANNOT BE CONTROLLED ON THIS BOARD.
Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:22 pm
Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D
It still infuriates me that they still try to pass themselves off as it being mandated that they go digital. If the company is going to go completely digital than so be it! That will be the only way we will be viewed on PEG channels. However, they had no reason to change the PEG channel at all. Even in 2009, they do not have to change all the stations to digital.
We are now wondering if Comcast is going to be friendly to community partners also. Not just those that took them to court.
Interesting they claim they are not discriminating against PEG. Hmmm Oh really? Why aren’t they changing any other stations? Seems rather discriminatory if the only stations being targeted are PEG channels that are not making them money. Sure it good business. But, there was an agreement that was supposed to last 15 years. Plus any changes should have been run by the city’s involved.
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