CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION ALERT, October 30, 2004
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org

Apologies for the additional email, but the CAN TV funding ordinance 
co-sponsored by Mayor Daley and Alderman Stone will come to a vote before 
the Chicago Committee on Finance on Monday, November 1, 10am, at City Hall.

Comcast has expressed opposition to the ordinance, and CAN TV is asking 
supporters to come to City Hall on Monday morning to support the ordinance
and encourage the Committee on Finance to pass this ordinance.

Details are listed below.

*** *** *** *** *** *** ***

*MEDIA ALERT* Press Contact: Allan Gomez, 312-738-1400

*WHAT:* The Chicago Committee on Finance votes on the ordinance to fund 
CAN TV introduced by Mayor Daley and Alderman Stone. This ordinance will 
stem losses from a failed funding structure that is tied to cable 
competition.

*WHEN:* Monday, November 1 at 10 a.m.

*WHERE:* City Council Chambers, 2nd floor, City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle.

*WHY:* This ordinance proposes a viable solution to help close the funding 
gap caused by the failure of cable competition in the City of Chicago. The 
first part of the new ordinance addresses a change in the amusement tax. 
The second part of the ordinance provides CAN TV with a small percentage of 
the cable franchise fee that is currently paid to the City by cable 
companies.

*IN FAVOR:* The majority of Chicago Aldermen on behalf of thousands of 
constituents citywide. CAN TV supporters.

*OPPOSED:* Comcast has expressed opposition to the first part of the 
ordinance which calls for a slight decrease in the deduction of Comcast's 
5% franchise fee from the 7% amusement tax. Comcast argues that this is 
unfair, that it will burden its subscribers, and that it will cause 
a competitive disadvantage in the face of growing competition from 
satellite providers.

Is the new ordinance unfair to Comcast? Comcast, the largest cable company 
in Chicago, gets 85% of citywide cable revenues. It pays 58% of CAN TV's 
cable funding. That only increases to 65% with the addition of franchise 
fee dollars rerouted to CAN TV.

Will the new ordinance burden Comcast's customers? The change in the 
amusement tax will result in less than $2.00 per year to Comcast 
subscribers, or approximately 15 cents per month.

Will the new ordinance cause a competitive disadvantage? According 
to The Chicago Tribune (March 2004), Comcast holds the lion's share of 
the market with satellite having only 10%, and competitive cable companies 
like RCN and WOW holding only 5%.

For more information, go to www.cantv.org.

*** *** *** *** *** *** ***

This is an email from Chicago Media Action, a Chicago activist
group devoted to media issues.

Chicago Media Action, P.O. Box 14140, Chicago IL 60614-0140  
Call toll-free: 1-866-260-7198  
Web: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
E-mail: cma@chicagomediaaction.org

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, simply send an email requesting
removal to mailinglist@chicagomediaaction.org