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City Comptroller Unveils Cable Customer Bill Of Rights New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. yesterday unveiled a "Cable Consumer Bill of Rights" aimed at protecting New York City consumers by demanding significant protections in cable companies' franchise agreements with the City. "This 'Cable Consumer Bill of Rights' will ensure consumers are protected, informed and empowered. We now have the opportunity to implement the strongest, most comprehensive set of cable consumer protections in the country," Thompson said. New York's two original cable companies, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, have begun negotiations for franchise renewals with the city as their existing 10-year franchise agreements expire in October, and the city is in the process of negotiating a new cable television franchise agreement with Verizon. Franchise agreements are subject to approval by the Franchise Concession and Review Committee (FCRC), which is comprised of the comptroller, mayoral ap-pointees, and the five borough presidents. The "Cable Consumer Bill of Rights" is a multi-pronged blueprint crafted by the Comptroller's Office, in conjunction with the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and the Consumers Union - two leading consumer voices on telecommunications issues. The measure aims to give cable consumers meaningful information about customer service performance; increase cable accountability on service issues; offer more disclosure of what comprises monthly cable bills; protect the privacy of cable and internet subscribers; provide more disclosure of how much consumers are charged for different categories of chan-nels, including channels owned by cable service pro-viders; and ensure customers have access to more in-dependently-owned channels by requiring that cable companies arbitrate access disputes fairly and quickly. Chuck Bell, Director of Advocacy Programs at Consumers Union, said, "We're proud to stand with Comptroller Thompson and other consumer advocates to fight for these much-needed reforms, which would ensure New York City is the nation's leader in cable consumer protections.." Key provisions of the "Cable Consumer Bill of Rights" are: 1. Customer Service Transparency • Cable companies will be required to collect and report detailed information about consumer complaints, and to follow-up with complaining consumers within 30 days to ensure their problems have been resolved; • Companies must also collect and report detailed information about service outages by borough and com-munity district, and submit a quarterly Plan of Correction for communities that are routinely subject to service outages; • Companies must also improve meaningful consumer disclosure by providing consumers with a full and accurate list of all service tiers, sub-tiers and channel offerings for their franchise area; • Cable operators must provide convenient service centers that are easily accessible by mass transit. We recommend one service center for every 500,000 customers served; • Ensures privacy protection for the customer which prohibits the cable providers from sharing data on customer's internet usage and television viewing habits. 2. Cable Rate Transparency • Cable companies must provide needed transpa-rency about their cable rates so that consumers know what percentage of each bill is allocated to: a) Cost of content, capital expenditures, system maintenance, administrative expenses and profit and b) Independent programmers affiliated / non-affiliated with cable or broadcasting companies 3. Independent Arbitration • Create an independent arbitration system to help cable companies and independent programmers efficiently resolve disputes over access, rather than denying consumer access to popular programming. (This will avoid the type of blackouts when Yankees and Mets programming were not available to many cable subscribers for lengthy periods of time.) 4. Annual Cable Consumer Report Card • Cable companies must publish and distribute an annual Cable Consumer Report Card so that consumers can see their cable company's performance over the previous year, access cost and service information, view improvements that have been made and service outages that have occurred, and view complaint ratios by community board. • The availability of a report card as well as where to obtain the information (web site, phone number) must be included in all promotional materials issued by the providers • This annual report must also disclose the existence of exclusive contracts that cable companies make with Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs), which prohibit residents from choosing among cable providers. Thompson added, "We have an opportunity to establish better service by way of accountability and openness on behalf of the cable companies. I urge the City to include these vital provisions in the cable television agreements and call upon the other FCRC Members to insist that these provisions be part of any final agreements."
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