Newport Beach to lose Internet fees
June Casagrande
NEWPORT BEACH -- Residents who subscribe to Adelphia Communications
Corp.’s high-speed Internet service will soon see a fee of about $2
disappear from their monthly bills -- and the city will see about $80,000
disappear from its annual revenues -- as the result of a Federal
Communications Commission ruling on cable Internet service.
The ruling last month upheld an Oregon court case that found that
franchise fees don’t apply to cable Internet service. This is because
cable Internet is not entertainment but instead an information service,
the federal court ruled and the commission reaffirmed. As a result, cable
companies, including Adelphia, are expected to immediately stop charging
the franchise fee that they have been collecting for local governments.
In 2000, Newport Beach’s general fund received about $122,000 in cable franchise fees. Cox Cable stopped collecting the fees last year because
of the Oregon court ruling. In 2001, the city received about $80,000 that
had been collected from Adelphia subscribers and none from Cox.
“I would hope this could mean better service for their customers, but
unfortunately there’s no way to guarantee that,” Assistant City Manager
Dave Kiff said.
The city is renewing its contracts with Cox and Adelphia in the midst
of a storm of complaints about the latter company’s Internet service.
City officials are holding public workshops to gather input on what
residents want from their cable providers, in part to try to help assure
better service.
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