12-07-1983 Regular Meeting of La Porte City Council

Browse Search

Minutes, Regular~eeting, La Porte City Cou~l December 7, 1983, Page 6 • Cline:. On the Cable TV, I personally think we are having a ~tle problem with it. I talked with Mr. Herrera yester- day and discovered they're only keeping the office in La Porte open half a day now. Even though the franchise doesn't specifically state what hours they'll have the office open it does say that they will provide adequate service, and I don't think they can provide adequate service being open half a day--they no longer take service calls here--you have to call Pasadena--it is nearly impossible to get through. Mr. Skelton stated that when you finally. got through they just put you on hold and never come back to the phone. Mr. Lon le How much control does the City have over Ca e TV? Ma or Cline: When we were looking over these franchises and to sing to the various companies who were coming down to talk t Council and. submit bids, we were promised good service and good things that were going to happen. The franchise doesn't really state that you're going to have an office here and set out the hours per se,-but we have quite a bit of control, don't you think, Knox? Askins: Yes. The franchise is a contract between the City and • t~ able TV company and they have made a number of convenants that we bargained very hard to get, because we knew they were based largely. in Pasadena and served a lot of other cities. A lot of them we got; we got the head-in facilities in La Porte which adds to our tax base, or will if Spenwick's annexed, I guess. We provided for a local studio, local access channels, local office, local service and it seems like maybe it's time to write them a letter and cover all these points. It seems they should let the people who are due refunds how to go about it, because a lot of them don't know how to do it. Skelton:. Mr. Spangler said they'd get credit, and I've told t~ and no one has. Askins: Just automatically? Without asking? Lon lie I heard customers have to be out of service for 2 days bore credit will be due-- Skelton: There's one other thing I'd like to ask. Jack put an ar- t~ in our box recently that Congressman Bryant from Dallas had a bill up on legislation of cable TV, and his bill was a lot more. favorable to municipalities and keeping local jurisdiction, local people would set the rates, the type of programs they could have, and all of this kind of thing. I don't know what happened with this. I think if it's still pending or if it hasn't gone to • the Senate yet we ought to work on our senators and I assume it's already gone before Congress--I don't know.