MPSC Issues Annual Report on Video Services Competition

Yesterday the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) issued its second annual report on video services competition in Michigan as required by PA 480.  Not surprisingly, customer complaints are up significantly from 2007.  The MPSC received a total of 1,030 complaints in 2008.  The most common complaints? Some of the old favorites: PEG channel issues, billing, and channel line-ups. One of the big issues outlined in the report is that under PA 480, the legislature was to adopt a dispute resolution process. Last session, the League fought hard to table the bills that had been introduced because they were not favorable to local communities. We were successful in that effort. While we don't necessarily oppose the dispute resolution process in general, we need to ensure that local units of government are able to file legitimate claims despite not having the same financial resources as cable companies.  

The 2 percent PEG issue plays into this as well.  The legislative intent when PA 480 was passed was that communities would get 2 percent for PEG funding in addition to the 5 percent franchise fee. If the dispute resolution process goes into place before the 2 percent issue is resolved, the legislature would likely punt this issue to the MPSC.  We fought hard against this happening because the legislature intended this to happen -- they should fix it instead of sending it to the MPSC.  

The report indicates an increase of over 31,000 cable customers from 2007. What it doesn't specify is whether these customers signed up for cable because of the impending digital transition.  One huge problem with PA 480 is that there is no benchmark against which to measure "successful" cable competition. If this law is successful, shouldn't we be paying less for cable now that some of our communities have more than one provider? In my personal circumstance, not the case.  

PA 480 has not been perfect (the treatment of PEG channels are a prime example), and the law needs to be examined to make sure the true spirit of this law -- competition -- is actually being realized.