UMass is a city unto itself, but they still reside in Amherst
The Cable Advisory Committee voted unanimously on Monday to request Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek issue UMass a public documents request to ascertain details of a cable contract with Charter Communications that could violate federal law because the Amherst Select Board, who has authority in these matters, never issued them a cable franchise.
The CAC is currently working diligently on the renewal of the current ten-year cable contract with Comcast which does require Select Board approval. Currently Amherst has over 7,000 subscribers who contribute about $6 million total per year to Comcast.
As part of their franchise fee Comcast gives up 5% of their annual cable revenues to Amherst Media, around $300,000, as well as a once every ten year capital sum for new equipment, which amounted to $450,000 in the last contract.
Comcast quarterly income report
Since these contract matters are FCC related that kind of makes the Select Board agents of a federal authority. Thus the usual excuse UMass uses for ignoring town ordinances and/or bylaws may not hold up, since a federal entity trumps a state one.
UMass recently told the town to go fly a kite (or drone) regarding the 6% local hotel/motel tax applying to the Campus Center Hotel.
Currently they are holding $200,000 in escrow attempting to strong arm the town into signing a multi-year "Strategic Partnership" for Payment In Lieu Of Taxes to help fund all the services provided to on-campus students by Amherst Fire Department.
Larry, this is bullshit, and here's why:
ReplyDelete1: Amherst has a distribution franchise -- Amherst has the right to decide who gets to use the poles along Amherst streets to distribute CATV which is a natural monopoly because you can't have 37 different cable companies stringing 37 different sets of COAX cable along each and every one of the streets in town, running it to their customers houses and the rest.
You can only have one electrical distribution system, one (wired) telephone distribution system, and one (wired) CATV distribution system -- Amherst has control over it's own streets (but not those of UMass) and hence all you have with the FCC is the Feds giving back Amherst its own police powers.
2: UMass has a dish -- on the top of T6 (Washington) -- you probably can take a nice close-up picture of it with your drone. A lot of other people have a dish -- WalMart does, I wouldn't be surprised if Doctor whats-her-name does in her new clinic, lots of gas stations do (for pay at the pump) and then lots of households have satellite dishes for Dish TV.
Anyone can put a dish on their own land/building and while the municipality has control over how this is done (code), there is no franchise fee (of any kind) for *anything* (TV or otherwise) received from a satellite -- the franchise fee involves service provided via wires (or glass) strung along Amherst streets ON AMHERST PROPERTY -- the sidewalks are town property.
3: ACTV is not available on HSCN (the UM cable system). That's why I was never involved in ACTV, it wasn't on my TV.
4: The number of televisions that you connect to your CATV connection, and the extent to which you amplify the signal to facilitate doing so, is a matter between you and the CATV company. Instead of connecting 2 TVs, UMass connects 20,000...
5: All of HSCN's "extension cords" are on UMass land. All of the physical wires are on UMass land -- as is the dish. Nothing is on a Town of Amherst sidewalk (or on a pole above it).
6: UMass is a separate municipality, per state law. As is Hadley.
QED, Amherst has no jurisdiction over HSCN.
Wow, this is a boring article.
ReplyDeleteFeds rule, state drools.
ReplyDeleteNow if they took the dish off the roof of T6 -- which looking at your picture makes me think they did -- then there is the question of how the signal is getting to Pierpont, which (I believe) is where the head of the HSCN system is - the amplifiers and such.
ReplyDeleteFolks, I went round and round with them on the telephone aspect of this, for more than a few year, and their argument is that this is all a PBX -- Private Branch Exchange. It's like having an extension phone in your garage, which you can do, or having more than one television.
As long as all the wires are on your own land, as long as none of your wires are on anyone else's land and particularly if they aren't strung along poles on town land, the town doesn't have any authority over it.
Now there are a few steps further on this which I still believe are illegal (and one of which I really will sue UMass over if they are stupid enough to push things instead of leaving me alone) -- but as to the Amherst pole use franchise fee applying to something that isn't using them, ummmm...
This is like going to the Lord Jeff (which I presume has a TV in each room) and asking them for a franchise fee because they have wires running from one room to another. Or asking Team Maria for a fee because of the wiring in the high school.
Right Larry. The only reason why Amherst can tax Verizon for its poles is because the Feds let Amherst do so. The only reason why Amherst can tell me that I can't string my own poles on the other side of the street and have Ed's Telephone System is because the feds give Amherst that right.
ReplyDeleteBecause it is interstate commerce. Because the feds have control over interstate commerce, but *can* (and do) give back some of that power.
Larry, doesn't your drone send back live footage to you when in flight?
That is a television signal, technically that is CATV, are YOU paying a franchise fee to the Town of Amherst for this?
No, because the Feds maintained control of the airwaves (wireless) -- and you technically have a FCC license from the FEDS to send that CATV signal.
And now I have to register my little drone, which I'm more than happy to do. Even though, unlike guns, there have been no deaths attributed to consumer drones.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but unlike guns, it's tough to protect yourself or your property with a flying camera.
DeleteEd, think of what you could accomplish obsessing about the community where you actually live.
ReplyDeleteI think Ed's current community should pay us for our services. Maybe we could send them Vince in exchange?
ReplyDeleteGive me what I want, and I'll go away....
ReplyDeleteThe only thing Ed really wants is an audience. We'll guess what, like the seagulls at the dump.
Deleteed what do you want...we will take up a collection...give it to you and you go away....
ReplyDeleteThank you Stephen King.
ReplyDelete