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To: Jay Lowe who wrote (5399)	2/14/1999 9:50:00 PM
From: Jay Lowe	Respond to of 29970

Seattle Times : Opinion/Editorials : Sunday, December 27, 1998 Make TCI a path, not obstacle to wired future TCI is back at the whipping post, but that should not distract the city from long-term goals in telecommunications. Punish TCI, but promote competition and hasten the day when customers can easily switch rather than fight. The cable-TV giant has told city officials it will not make a promised deadline to add channels for 65,000 customers. This puts city officials in a can't-lose position. Whacking TCI is politically safe and legally appropriate because the company will miss a Jan. 20 deadline, an apparent breach of its franchise agreement. The company says it will take an additional six to nine months to complete the job. Believe it? Ask King County, Issaquah, Medina, Bellevue and Renton about TCI's credibility. Under its franchise agreement with TCI, Seattle can impose a $10,000-a-month fine. No one believes that is adequate punishment for the company or sufficient compensation for frustrated customers. TCI, which has accepted responsibility for missing the deadline, say it's willing to offer concessions, such as credits or discounts, to frustrated customers. Before the city negotiates a deal, it should think through its options and recognize cable for what it is: a highly valued delivery system for a coming array of interactive digital services, as well as old-style TV programming. At stake is not who gets the Comedy Channel, but whether all of Seattle is moving toward fast, reasonably priced connections to the Information Superhighway. That should be the goal. TCI may or may not be a vehicle to that end. The city's options: -- Cut a deal with TCI for significant concessions. That is simple and achievable. No one doubts that TCI is spending money to finish the upgrade. It's only a question of how fast the work is getting done. TCI's planned sale to AT&T creates additional leverage for the city, which is scheduled to act on the franchise transfer by Feb. 16. The city can threaten to delay the franchise transfer or it could threaten to make trouble for the sale itself. AT&T, which relies on favorable rulings from the Federal Communications Commission, would rather avoid the embarrassment. -- Dump TCI. The city could formally begin proceedings to revoke the franchise, buy out TCI's equipment, and offer the franchise for sale at a time when cable systems are fetching high prices. Among the investors who might show an interest: billionaire Paul Allen, who has been buying cable systems across the country. This option would probably provoke litigation with TCI and require more guts than buying a downtown office tower, but it's worth exploring. -- Follow Tacoma's lead and start a city-owned utility that runs a cable system, a move that proved TCI could be more responsive to customers. This idea takes advantage of extensive city-owned fiber-optic cable. Since this idea goes against the trend of private competition in utilities, however, it has the least appeal. -- Encourage Summit Communications, which already has permission to serve the entire city, to accelerate the expansion of its system. Already serving the Central Area, Summit is starting to take TCI customers in Queen Anne. -- Look for ways for the city to support and promote new technologies, such as small-dish satellite receivers, as alternatives for customers. The city should stay technology neutral but friendly to hardware that leapfrogs old systems and unresponsive providers. TCI's broken promises are familiar. Now, economics, competition, regulation and technology are changing rapidly, perhaps getting to the day when the market, rather than government, will be a sufficient inducement to quality service. Even if TCI remains the dominant cable provider in Seattle, the city is in a strong position to protect consumers.