City, Cable Company to Battle Over Rates

Visibly angry over a proposed rate hike for 15,800 cable subscribers, the City Council on Monday voted to fight an attempt by Century Communications to thwart the city’s oversight of cable rates.

They had planned a vote to block Century cable’s proposal to raise basic service rates on May 1 from $31.50 to $33.39 per month. City staff maintains that Century subscribers should be paying just $25.07 per month.

But the council scrapped its plans after the cable operator filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to exempt itself from the city’s congressionally granted rate-setting authority.

Instead, the council set a public hearing for April 27 to consider the rate hike, which would come on top of what already are the highest basic cable rates paid anywhere in Ventura County.

Council members openly encouraged citizens to show up to speak their minds at that meeting.

“I just feel this is totally arrogant on the company’s part,” said Councilman Brian Brennan.

After the company had proposed its rate hike, the council had planned to use the authority granted by Congress in the 1992 Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act, which gave local governments power in policing cable rates under a complex set of federal rate guidelines.

The average subscriber of basic cable television in Ventura County pays about $15.25 for the service, according to a survey of cable rates conducted by The Times last summer.

Despite years of complaints by residents and local politicians, Century General Manager Stephen J. Frantela said the company makes no apologies for its rates.

“The decision of rates is a business decision,” Frantela said before Monday’s meeting. “We’re a for-profit business, and we’re not ashamed of that.”

Century formally petitioned the FCC last week for an exemption from city oversight.

For the company’s petition to succeed, the FCC would have to declare that “effective competition” exists in the city, which would remove the city’s ability to adjust Century’s rates.

Even though the service areas of the city’s two cable providers do not overlap and cable subscribers have no choice of service, the FCC defines competition as existing when two cable companies operate within the same franchise area, City Atty. Bob Boehm said.

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The council’s move comes as Ventura considers renewing its 15-year franchise agreements with both Century Communications and Avenue TV Cable, which serves 10,500 subscribers in Ventura.

Councilman Sandy Smith, along with other council members, pledged to do everything in his power to lure additional cable competitors into the city.

“I don’t care how long it takes to make sure we have competition in the marketplace,” Smith said. “I’ll make sure we keep pushing on this.”