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The Telecom Digest for April 16, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 56 : "text" Format
====== 32 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
|
Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 15:22:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Viacom-NCTC programming deal rejected by community-owned operator MPW
Message-ID: <6a636d63-7a06-4fb9-9a2f-6fde2a14cef7@googlegroups.com>
By Jim Barthold, FierceCable, April 15, 2014
| Muscatine Power and Water, a local utility and digital cable TV
| provider in Iowa, has decided it would rather switch off than fight
| when it comes to the newly negotiated program carriage agreement
| between the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) and
| Viacom. Multiple NTSC members, including one of the largest, Cable
| One, have also rejected the agreement.
|
| In a press release, MPW said customer-owners voted 4-1 for MPW
| DigitalTV to decline the agreement struck by its purchasing
| cooperative. It has thus removed Viacom channels like Comedy
| Central, MTV and Nickelodeon from its lineup.
|
| "It's a tough call, but it speaks to our view that the cable TV
| industry has to stand up to the outrageous demands of programmers,"
| Sal LoBianco, MPW's general manager said in a press release. "As a
| community-owned communications utility, our motivation is to
| protect our customers--our neighbors--from significant fee
| increases wherever possible."
Continued:
http://www.fiercecable.com/story/viacom-nctc-programming-deal-rejected-community-owned-operator-mpw/2014-04-15?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/qxsfbdv
Maybe for-profit cable companies should do the same thing.
NCTC is a not-for-profit corporation serving the interests of over
950 cable operators like MPW Digital TV across the United States .
It has a combined customer base of over 5,000,000 cable TV
subscribers. Among its many services, NCTC negotiates many network
agreements on behalf of its member companies. Programmers gain the
efficiency of negotiating one contract . NCTC bring s to bear the
negotiating power of 950 + member cable operators to help keep costs
down from the large programmer corporations
Neal McLain
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:13:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: LA Times: Price gouging for unlisted phone numbers
Message-ID: <2faf8e35-fc64-4da9-a302-fd9e4f493007@googlegroups.com>
An article in the Los Angeles Times talks about the fees charged by carriers
to have an unlisted number.
In January, AT&T raised it fee from $1.25 to $1.75, a 40% increase. In 2006
it was only 28 cents.
The author attempted to obtain Verizon's fee, but was given multiple quotes by
different people ranging from $2.25 to $8.50 per month, with FIOS costing
more.
"They emphasize that this is for a service that a phone company is not
providing. It's for them not including your name in a directory and not facing
the costs of printing it in a phone book. "It's pure gravy," said Natalie
Billingsley, telecom supervisor for the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, an arm
of the California Public Utilities Commission. "They charge whatever they want
to charge." "
full detailed article at:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20140415,0,2408533.column#axzz2yz2KMggk
P.S. Years ago the carriers claimed the fee was necessary to offset calls to
directory assistance in search of unlisted numbers. But today DA calls are
expensive, often $1 each.
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