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Home My WebLink AboutAGENDA REPORT 1996 0702 CC SPC ITEM 08B:�,= g ? ITL;,u. • Agenda Report City of Moorpark - TO: Honorable City Council s FROM: Richard Hare, Deputy City Man DATE: June 26, 1996 (City Council Meeting 7/2/96) SUBJECT: Public Hearing Regarding the Quality of Cable Service Provided by Mountain Meadows/Entertainment Express Background Since June 6, 1984, Mountain Meadows Cable Television (MM/EE), a California Limited Partnership, has held a franchise granted by the City of Moorpark to operate a community antenna television system within the city limits. The regulation of this franchise is limited by federal and state laws governing the general operations of cable television operators. The City does not have the authority to regulate rates, but does have control of City rights -of -way and other public properties which the cable operator must use to conduct their business. Further, the City's franchise agreement with the operator sets certain quality of service standards which the cable operator must meet. The cable franchise will expire June 6, 1999. Staff is recommending the gathering of information regarding the performance of the cable operator to determine if their franchise should be renewed. Negotiations for franchise renewal should commence after gathering information from their subscribers regarding the operator's performance. This public hearing is the first opportunity for the City Council to gain information from the subscribers. Staff notified Mountain Meadows/Entertainment Express and requested that they be present at the public hearing. Notification was mailed to area HOA's inviting viewers to attend the public hearing to voice any comments or concerns. The notice was also placed in the Moorpark Star and on Channel 10. Staff is recommending the continuation of this public hearing to September 18, 1996 in order to gather additional information. Service Complaints Complaints received have typically regarded the poor picture quality and sound for channel 10 which is the government channel. This channel is fed from Ventura County Cablevision to Mountain Meadows/Entertainment Express (NIlv1/EE). The quality of the signal degrades as it travels through the MM/EE system. Other complaints have concerned the availability of repair crews and the response to problems. There have also been complaints received reception on other channels. 00OZZ8 Agenda Report City of Moorpark Recommendation Open the public hearing and receive testimony; keep the public hearing open with it continued to September 18, 1996. mmee.001 ENIERIAiNMENT EXP, LTD 14048166844 EEL July 2, 1996 ENTERTAINMENT EXPRESS,. LTD. To: The Mayor and members of the City Council of Moorpark From. Marc Sklar. General Manager, Entertainment Express Re: 'Tonight's council meeting t want to apologize for not being able to attend tonight's meeting personally or to send a representative of our company. As .Richard Hare may have informed you our system manager is ill and unable to attend. I Would like .to update you on our current and ongoing consrucrmn and upgrade plans. Within the past six months we have moved our Iow channel (channel's 2 -13. not inclining channel's 10 & of processing equipment to our antenna site. on, PreWla Road. This has improved the signal strength entering our system and has made a noticeable improvement in picture qualq for our customers.' Channels 8 & 10 Were . not moved to the Presilia.site since dM do not originate off our antenna at that location We are continuing our program of replacing and upgrading the distribution equipment in the oldest section of the Mountain Meadows development.'* As I understand it we have completed about 70% of the work and should complete the project by the end of 19%, On April 1, in conjunction with the rate changes we made we added 4 channels to our basic service, including three of �thosemost requested by our customers over the last few years. We also offered 'anew option to -our customers of a six channel expanded basic package. call our "Entertainment Package, that has' tieeen quite popular among subegibers. Since we last met with the council we have added additional hours to our Moorpark office to make it more convenient for. our customers to do business with us. Our office now has late hours Tuesday and Thursday, staying open until 7pm, and is open tar several hours on Saturday as well. Finally, I understand from talking to Richard that there are questims about the signal on channel 1o, the city.channel. My understanding is that any degradation that takes place within our system is minor. Due to the way the, signal is distributed to us, oor technicians say the incoming signal suffers from inconsistency. Under the current system, where we get the signal from YCC, there is little we can do to make further improvements. We have spent four times as much installing charnel 10 as we have for any other'channel in our system. If we olscover reasonable ways to further improve 3273 M STREET, N.W. - .WASHINGTON, DC 20007 PHONE: (202) 333. 0902. - PAX: (202) 965 -2793 JUL 02 196 05:08 _ _ 14048166844 PArF A� P. 02 ENTERTAINMENT EXP, LTD 14048166844 P,03 tiiR sic��a; We VM(il'MrAement them, but at this Faint our processing of the signal we gat is consistent. the signal we get. I am told by our technicians, is not, Please let me know if 1 can offer any additional information, Again my apologies for not being there in per3on. ��n� rely, Marc. Sklar Gerwai Manager- JUL 02 '96 05 09 7 Af:lno rrn. IEIEfLI tNTltTA1NYNNT VX1ttlg, LTD. LAURA IANNETTA SYSTEMS MANAGER 11404 Broadview Dr.. Moorpark, CA 93021 (805) 529 -0218 •Fax (805) 629 -4584 S �i/' -" 1�•r C��wu� • TN 1'.Iv AN.� lr�i N11 HH !w� Mai. l.w.. ��•vh t lA ISO, 11o.A/l MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA 93021 FAX 9 (805)529 -4584 THIS coMMUNICATION IS TO: "R0r NO. 0;` PAGES: Q-&cxvci �4 juW sue - � v�c�• C�aue.r) JUL 02 '96 05:28 once n, MOUNTAIN MEADOWS CABLE TELEVISION ENTERTAINMENT EXPRESS, LTD. TYPES OF SERVICE Effective 411/96 Features: • 46 channels Local network stations • Local independent stations • CNN, ESPN, TNN, USA Network and other top cable channels Basic service is available by the outlet Features: • Cartoon Network, Comedy Channel, Et Entertainment Television, The Sci -Fi Channel and WWOR The Entertainment Package is available by the outlet • HBO • Cinemax • Showtime • The Disney Channel Ptemium services are sold separately and require basic service and a converter box. • Request Pay- Per -View with top Movies, Boxing, Concerts and specials when you want them Take Otte premium service for six - months and get: • First month premium service free • 1/2 off the cost of installation Take two premium services for six- months and get: • First month premium service free • Free installation Join OUT Pay -Per -View club and get a free movie each month JUL 02 '96 05:28 - ~ PAGP A7 ENTERTAINMENT EXPRESS/ MOUNTAIN MEADOWS CABLE TV SCHEDULE OF RATES & FEES Effective 4/1/96 SERVICE LEVEL Monthly Charge Primary Each Additional Outlet Outlet Basic Services $25.76 $ 0.10 Basic Service + 1 Premium $37.71 $ 6.5 0 Basic Service + 2 Premium $47-66 $ 6.5 0 Basic Service + 3 Premium $57.61 $ 6.5 0 Basic Service + 4 Premium $67.56 $ 6.5 0 *May require converter. First converter...No Charge Additional converters $ 1.00 monthly. HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Disney 9.95 EA $2.00 Decoder charge on first premium service (included in rate table above) Primary Each Additional Outlet Outlet ENTERTAINMENT PACKAGE $6.95 $ 6.5 0 * *this charge waved if additional outlet is already being charged for premium service. PAY -PER -VIEW CLUB $6.00/MONTH INCLUDES ONE FREE MOVIE PAY - PER -VIEW MOVIES /EVENTS: Prices listed on Pay - Per -View program guide channel #46. SERVICE FEES Installation & Hook -Up $44.95 Additional Outlet Installation Time & Materials Repair of customer equipment (2nd visit) Time & Materials Re- establishment of service disconnected for unpaid bill: $89.95 Fee for check returned for insufficient funds: $25.00 Late fee for balance due over 45 -days (45 -days from billing date): $6.00 ADDMONAL NOTES Copyright and Franchise fees will be added to all applicable services. COPYRIGHT FEE - royalty fee due to the owners of copyrighted materials provided in services delivered to you, collected by the cable company and forwarded to the Federal Copyright office. FRANCHISE FEE - Fee charged by, collected for and paid directly to city franchise authority. All rates subject to change without notification JUL 02 '96 05 =29 PAGE.03