Cable is the leading provider of both multichannel TV and broadband access in the U.S. It is now an essential "lifeline" to the digital age, delivering hundreds of channels, on-demand content, and interactive online applications. LA's citizens, consumers, nonprofits, and businesses will increasingly rely on the infrastructure--the upgraded cable plant--that will be developed as part of the franchise renewal process. Given the city's diverse population and leading role in media production, it is incumbent upon Los Angeles to negotiate an agreement that genuinely reflects the region's varied demography and dynamic economy.
The cable industry has not always been a willing partner in meeting these several needs, however. Cable operators have often fallen short in providing communities with networks of sufficient capacity for two-way interactivity, for example, failing to deliver system upgrades in a timely fashion and limiting the amount of fiber in their hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) systems. Much more capable, "next-generation" set-top boxes are long overdue, and broadband Internet connections have been less than robust (reflecting the industry-wide decision--which speaks volumes about the vision of the field--to devote less than 1 percent of total system capacity to Internet transport).
On the regulatory and legal front, the cable industry has proved even more recalcitrant. It has fought to prevent any "open access" provisions that would permit Internet Service Provider (ISP) competition, and has similarly opposed nondiscriminatory transport guarantees for Internet traffic. In communities such as San Jose, CA, cable has rejected the city's request for a set-aside of up to ten percent of system bandwidth for public use, and for an institutional network for city buildings and schools, the basis for a range of digital services that other cities have used to foster public expression and civic participation. In light of the industry's unfortunate record at the franchise bargaining table, then, the Los Angeles City Council should be fully prepared to confront the cable incumbents' likely objections to a franchise that will make Los Angeles a national leader in providing 21st century cable-related benefits to its residents.
In this critical period of transition--from analog to digital, from dial-up to broadband--the stakes are even higher for local governments when dealing with cable franchise renewals. As more Americans--citizens and consumers alike, nonprofit organizations and commercial enterprises--rely on cable broadband connections, the city must ensure that the network is both robust and readily accessible, so it can foster the full range of civic, educational, and cultural applications that are essential to the growth of the community.
Listed below are ten areas of concern--five overarching themes and five specific franchise requests--that hold the key to realizing the full potential of cable in the broadband era.
1. Digital Democracy: Growing numbers of citizens are engaged in civic activities online. From license renewals to voter education to legislative and regulatory affairs, LA's citizens will rely on the cable network for interactive access to government-related services. The public should have easy access to this "online civic sector," everything from candidate profiles and electoral issues to discussion forums and interactive town meetings.
2. Economic Development: Small neighborhood businesses and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the local economy. In order to survive, let alone prosper, they will need to utilize online services for marketing and purchasing. Commercial start-ups from diverse groups are especially vital to LA's well being. Cable must provide all neighborhoods with a network and a service model that supports the growth of community commerce.
3. Independent Media Production : LA's role as a global center for production and distribution will be affected by the cable franchise. First, the City must ensure that fiber connections are available to support high-bandwidth applications for the myriad of production centers. Second, LA's cable systems must support independent production and distribution by ensuring they have access to video servers, electronic program guides, set-top storage devices, and other network elements essential to broad consumer access.
4. Non-Discrimination: Cable has sought favorable rulings at the FCC that shield it from competition in the broadband Internet's critical "last-mile" connections (as have the former "Baby Bells" for their DSL networks). Leading scholars and media companies--including Amazon, Microsoft and Disney--have urged for a policy of "network neutrality" that would ensure all applications are treated fairly. While these issues are the subject of litigation and federal debate, LA should receive written assurances from every cable company that they will treat all applications in a wholly "neutral" fashion.
5. Capacity: Today's cable plant can deliver hundreds of channels and broadband access. But cable has traditionally devoted just a single channel to broadband transport, clearly insufficient for LA's advanced communications needs. Cable operators must make additional bandwidth available to ensure a robust platform for Internet applications. In addition, cable companies should provide video channel capacity for programmers offering city-based services who are unaffiliated with the cable industry.
If these are the broad outlines of a cable system that finally fulfills its civic potential, the basic elements of a successful franchise renewal (covered in greater detail by other speakers today) are as follows:
1. The PEG Platform: While public-, education-, and government-access channels have long been at the heart of franchise negotiations, this platform must now be brought into the 21st century, taking full advantage of the new capabilities--including digital multicasting, video on demand, and interactive data services--that are part of modern cable systems today.
2. Spectrum Flexibility: One of the keys to the reinvigoration of PEG is the shift in our thinking from discrete video channels to a more flexible bandwidth set-aside--75 MHz to 86 MHz. Such capacity (representing some 12 to 14 analog channels or 60 to 80 digital channels) can be put to a variety of public-interest uses, including traditional video programming but by no means restricted to that paradigm.
3. Institutional Network: A high-speed institutional network can be used to link more than municipal departments and buildings. Such networks can encompass a wide range of community resources--from schools and libraries to social service agencies and cultural organizations--adding much needed civic, educational, and cultural content to an online world that is fast becoming merely another outlet for the entertainment conglomerates.
4. Support Structures: Without the rich programming resources to flow through them, cable's PEG pipes mean little. But such operations cost money, and serious consideration must be given to expanding PEG support beyond the traditional sources (which include up to 3 percent of gross cable revenues for PEG equipment and facilities, and whatever share of the 5 percent franchise fee that is earmarked for PEG programming) to include entirely new funding structures that draw on public and private sources alike.
5. System Extensibility: Although cable franchise agreements are normally measured in 10- to 15-year segments, the technologies involved mature much more swiftly. Thus local franchise authorities should build provisions into their agreements for ensuring that PEG and other public interest aspects of the system can take full advantage of the technological advancements that occur during the term of the franchise.
With a concerted effort at the upcoming franchise renewal negotiations, and with adequate funding thereafter, Los Angeles' new digital PEG platform could prove to be a model for the field. These new facilities could serve, in effect, as laboratories for the exploration of community, educational, and municipal services using the new broadband technologies that the cable industry will be introducing over the next several months, including video on demand, interactive television, streaming media, voice over IP, wireless networking, and whatever other new applications that will become possible once cable upgrades to DOCSIS 2.0 and PacketCable implementations (the networking and interface protocols and specifications for delivering advanced, real-time multimedia services over two-way cable plant).
Traditional PEG programming, offered over analog video channels, has served communities well for some three decades. While such programming will continue to be important during this time of transition, it is not too early to begin planning for the next generation of public service programming--both interactive and archival, with real-time, on-demand transactions and other residential, business, and mobile services transmitted by a variety of wired and wireless devices.
As the cable industry and others in the media marketplace actively seek thenext "killer apps," in other words, we should be no less ambitious in discovering their public-interest counterparts, online applications that place the power of advanced telecommunications squarely in the hands of citizens and the community organizations that serve them.