by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Despite the fact the end is drawing near for AT&T Broadband in Jacksonville, plans are still in the works to not only fine the city’s only cable television provider, but assure that the new provider, Comcast, succeeds where AT&T failed.
For several months now, the City and AT&T executives have been negotiating an acceptable fine for AT&T’s inability to abide by the City’s cable franchise agreement in several areas, but predominantly customer service.
Specifically, the City would like AT&T to provide an across-the-board refund of some dollar amount to all of its current customers, regardless whether or not they have experienced poor customer service since AT&T came to town or not.
That crusade is being led by City Council president Matt Carlucci, who is aggressively campaigning to guarantee that what Jacksonville has experienced with its monopolistic cable provider never happens again. One measure the City will take is to hire a telecommunications expert to help with a variety of things relating to the City’s cable franchise agreement.
Mario Taylor, the director of the Regulatory and Environmental Services Division, said the consultant should be in Jacksonville soon.
“Given what struggles we have been through the last several months, the City has secured the services of a telecommunications expert,” said Taylor. “He should be here before, but no later than, the end of the month. The General Counsel’s Office is checking his credentials and it’s just a matter of finalizing the deal.”
Taylor, who asked that the consultant’s name not be released until he is fully approved, said he is coming from Miami and has dealt with cable television/city disputes before.
“They [Miami] have had worse problems than us, so this is wonderful,” said Taylor.
According to Taylor, the consultant will be charged with two major tasks, both of which will directly affect Comcast and any other cable company down the line.
“One, we want to get the best possible deal for us and the customer,” said Taylor. “Two, we want to update the cable franchise ordinance. Right now, there are not strong enough customer service standards. The City Council wants it written where it encourages better customer service.”
A great deal of Carlucci’s frustration stems from two things: AT&T’s refusal to refund customers individually and an increase in customer service complaints over the last two months. After reaching a peak of 1,187 complaints in June, a downward trend began until hitting a low of 164 in November. According to Taylor, that’s a positive trend, but the November figure is still higher than acceptable per the franchise agreement.
“It’s still not normal,” said Taylor. “Normal should be 35-40 a month.”
In December, the City received 179 complaints and during the first six days of January 39 people complained. That pace equates to approximately 201 complaints in January, a figure that would indicate a two-month upward trend.
“Who knows what the future holds if they stay on that pace,” said Taylor, referring to any possible fines. “That outpaces December.”
Once the consultant comes on board, according to Carlucci several issues will be addressed immediately.
“Right now, we are in the process of doing three things,” said Carlucci. “One, we want to rewrite the franchise agreement and the City ordinance as it relates to the current franchise holder, either Comcast or AT&T.
“Two, due diligence to determine exactly whether or not the complaint reporting from AT&T is accurate. If not, that’s material misrepresentation. If not, it opens up a whole new ball game. It’s a violation of the franchise agreement.
“Three, I want to look at other ways for competition to come to Jacksonville.”
Carlucci stressed that he will try to remain patient throughout the process, but considering the most recent numbers, that will be difficult.
“I don’t want to jump too far, but it has to be looked at,” said Carlucci. “I’m convinced we need to take a real serious look at what they reported and what’s accurate.”
Both Carlucci and Taylor agree that a consultant is necessary and AT&T has to be held accountable to both the City and the individual customers. However, they differ slightly on how competition for whomever has the franchise agreement could be incorporated.
Carlucci believes the City could look into something similar to what Clay County is considering — starting its own cable company staffed with an entirely different work force. The county-owned company’s objective wouldn’t be to put the current provider out of business, but rather provide healthy competition for the consumer. At this point, Clay County has spent $150,000 on a feasibility study that showed it would cost the county approximately $77 million to get into the cable television business.
The issue will probably be debated for several months before a decision is made. Still, simply looking into the proposition intrigues Carlucci.
“What Clay County did is a definite option for Jacksonville,” said Carlucci. “I have talked to the mayor’s office and the General Counsel’s Office about it. It’s an option worth looking at. It’s something I have a real interest in pursuing.”
Taylor thinks a City-owned and run cable company is a longshot.
“I hesitate to speculate on what they are doing in Clay County,” said Taylor. “My gut reaction is, the City is not a cable company and provider. That is not an easy thing to do.”
Neither Carlucci nor Taylor knew when Comcast was scheduled to take over for AT&T in Jacksonville. One thing is certain, no matter how long AT&T and their attorneys manage to drag out the fine proceedings, the company will not get out of paying them.
“AT&T is not off the hook,” said Carlucci. “The takeover by Comcast doesn’t leave them off the hook at all. When you buy a company, you not only buy a company’s assets, but also its liabilities.”
Because a transaction involving one multi-billion dollar company taking over another isn’t as simple as buying a pair of jeans at Old Navy, Taylor said Jacksonville may be stuck with AT&T for a while, perhaps as long as a year and even longer.
“We have gotten no specific date from AT&T at this point,” said Taylor. “We are dealing with a nationwide merger and we are just part of it. It probably won’t happen this calendar year and it could take as much as a year to just get the details of the takeover worked out.”
While Carlucci is pleased that Comcast is going to eventually take over, he’s going to adopt a wait and see attitude. Looking back, Carlucci said every new cable provider has made technical and customer service assurances only to fall short.
“I’m sure they have been told,” said Carlucci, when asked whether or not Comcast was aware of what has been going on in Jacksonville since last June and whether or not they have assured City officials that customer service will be a top priority. “I’m sure they’ll make great promises. All the new cable companies have made great promises.”
Unfortunately, like Carlucci, AT&T customers will have to remain patient for both any potential refund and Comcast to assume control.
“I wish we could move on this faster, but we can’t,” said Carlucci. “I can tell you, we will get good cable service in this town.”