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Public forum on cable franchise agreements draws comments on internet providers

by

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

A handful of Shelby County residents are concerned with a lack of high speed internet connection in their neighborhoods. During a public forum on the county’s cable franchise renewal agreement, which was held during the commission’s Oct. 10 meeting, residents voiced their concerns on the monopoly of service, lack of options and seemingly arbitrary divisions of territory.

Reginald Holloway, manager of community services for the county, introduced the public forum as well as residents who were present and signed up to comment. Holloway’s responsibilities include managing the county’s cable television franchise agreements with Charter Communications, AT&T Alabama and Zito Alabama as well as addressing conflicts between cable providers and customers and providing performance notices to cable providers. 

“We have all of our providers present, and we have three individuals, three citizens who would like to speak,” Holloway said. “They are concerned about the cable agreement at this time.”

Terry Stiles Harrison, a realtor for the greater Birmingham area who also lives near the town of Mt Laurel, said she attended to voice concerns on internet providers and service she has as a resident and concerns she has for her clients.

“What I’m hearing from my clients is either, there is no service or all around us, we have service, but we have a monopoly. We are at the mercy of whoever the developer decides to put in,” she said.

When clients sign up for service they have to sign a contract, have issues with billing and send up seeing price increases without notice, she said. Some clients are surrounded by homes that have internet access, she said, while they have none. Others will only have access to DSL or dialup, she said.

“They’re in the middle of people that have it, and they don’t have it, and they don’t know when they’re going to get it,” she said. “And we’re not rural, guys. We’re in a high-growth area of the county.”

Stiles Harrison asked the commission to consider internet when it goes to renew, encouraging them to think of county residents as the customers of that service.

“We are the customer. We do vote you in, and we need some options,” she said.

Before introducing the next person who signed up for public comment, Holloway noted that the franchise agreement only includes cable television, not internet.

“We don’t even cover telephone, it’s just the television part of it,” he said. “The FCC did not hand down to the local level for the commission to govern internet service.”

Robin Dickenson, a Dunnavant Square resident, said her concern for the lack of internet service is mainly for her two high school-aged children. They need high-speed internet to complete their classwork and access other materials, and Dickenson said she had to get an unlimited data plan for her children’s cell phones so that they can complete their work that way.

Iris Jackson echoed these concerns, adding that when she moved to Dunnavant Square, it never occurred to her to have to research whether or not high speed internet was available.

“Internet’s basic,” she said. “It’s a basic need now.”

Representatives of all three cable providers were present and said they would address questions from residents. Terri Williams with AT&T said there is a focus on providing television options to customers, as AT&T has merged with DirecTV. Robert Smith from Charter told residents they can come to him with questions, and an attorney representing Zito Media said he would bring notes, questions and concerns back to Zito.

A decision on the cable franchise agreements will likely be made in late November or early December.

Also at the meeting, the commission:

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