The city's Cable Advisory Board on Thursday voted to look into the feasibility of more competition in Lincoln.
DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:00 pm
The city’s Cable Advisory Board has little power over Lincoln’s only cable television provider, Time Warner Cable, but it can make plenty of noise.
And it continued to do so on Thursday by voting to look into the feasibility of more competition in Lincoln.
That is, assuming Mayor Chris Beutler gives the board the go-ahead.
The board recently wrapped up a performance evaluation of Time Warner in connection with problems digital cable customers have experienced after the company dropped its Passport channel guide last year and switched to a company-created guide called Navigator.
The board has recommended Time Warner give subscribers 35 percent rebates on their bills “for beta testing Navigator without compensation or notice.”
But the board’s involvement didn’t end there. During its Thursday meeting, Chairman Jonathan Rehm proposed looking into competition in response to customer concerns.
A subcommittee will look at the obstacles to competition and consequences, such as lost tax revenue.
Time Warner doesn’t have an exclusive franchise in Lincoln, and any competing cable TV provider could enter the market. But that would cost big bucks — very few cities have more than one cable TV company because it costs so much to build necessary infrastructure.
The board also voted to research and compare Lincoln’s cable service with that of 20 similar-sized communities and Omaha, Des Moines, and Sioux City.
Time Warner spokeswoman Ann Shrewsbury attended the meeting and reiterated afterward that Time Warner faces competition in many forms, from satellite TV to Internet programming.
“We have never been in a more competitive environment,” she said.
While the Cable Advisory Board is a “very hard-working group of community volunteers,” Shrewsbury said she didn’t think they were equipped to do a “market analysis of competition.”
The board will take up the issue again during its July meeting.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.