Minutes 1991 0819 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes - San Leandro City Council Meeting - August 19, 1991 Page - 17 - PUBLIC HEARINGS (continued) Council Member Perry asked that Lifeline better address subsidies for the disabled community. She also said United Artists should be on the forefront in providing some of these services. The hearing was then opened to the public. Elaine Clark, 141st Ave. , San Leandro, commented regarding her attempts to notify United Artists of a cable outage, and her dissatisfaction with the response to the outage. She asked if the future predicts all sports broadcasting to be a premium service. She also asked for an explanation of "Plus" service. Fred Friedman, 348 Estabrook, asked the City Council to review the performance of the cable company during a month when there aren't so many area residents on vacation. He said a hearing later in the year would generate more response. He said the $5.00 late fee is too expensive, and asked for support in bringing channel 32, a P.B.S. channel , to the cable line-up. He said he would like to see the cost of cable service come down. William Swan, 15272 Elvina Dr. , commented that deregulation is the cause for the increase of costs for cable service. He said services that were originally offered for free are now charged for, such as the channel box. He urged the City Council to go on record to support the bill that is pending to re-regulate the industry, and to encourage competition, which would then drive down the costs. Ellen Geis expressed concern regarding excessive costs for extra cable hook-ups in a home and monthly fee for additional hook-ups. Robin Valentine, 99 Haas Avenue, said that for the price paid for cable service, subscribers should be provided with a cable guide. She said she was unable to subscribe for the guide when it was offered in December, and she has found that the reported special issue of TV Guide for cable viewers is identical to the normal TV Guide magazine. Alicia Fayne said she finds the complaints from the public and the lack of cooperation from United Artists incredible. She said she hasn't benefited from the majority of the 60 channels offered by the service. She said she is critical of the shopping channels, and doesn't feel subscribers should have their rates increased to accommodate channels that aren't wanted. Mayor Karp briefly reviewed the complaints from the public hearing. Mr. Lacey then discussed programs and policies related to: pay-to-view sporting events; the company's credit for down-time policy; the Plus Service program; late fee charges; the possibility of adding Channel 32 to the cable listings; service fees ; and cable hook-up costs.