A better cable deal

THE SAN FRANCISCO Board of Supervisors' Rules Committee is holding a hearing May 7 on the city's progress in negotiating a contract with Comcast, which just bought AT&T's cable TV system. It's a tremendous opportunity to change a terrible contract and to win far better cable service, and the supervisors need to aggressively push for major concessions from Comcast.

The city's franchise agreement with AT&T, which gave the company the exclusive right to run television cable under city streets and provide service to local residents, is nontransferable. So legally, the sale to Comcast voids the franchise agreement, and Comcast can't take over AT&T's local cable business until the supervisors agree to a new contract.

San Francisco – a city with a vibrant alternative media culture – has one of the worst cable contracts in the nation, with high prices and generally terrible programming. It needs some dramatic changes, including:

• Low-cost cable for seniors and low-income people ($5 a month, with free installation, would be a reasonable price.)

• Low-cost high-speed Internet access through cable and a mandate that bandwidth be shared with nonprofits and local Internet service providers.

• Increased funding for public-access programming and a mandate to provide more public-interest and community-oriented programming.

Ultimately, the board should be looking at ways San Francisco can follow the model of the city of Alameda, which has a public cable system that offers better service at better rates and brings in millions in revenue for the city coffers. But at the very least, the supervisors need to instruct the City Attorney's Office to take a hard line with Comcast and to demand concessions before allowing the new company to take over this extremely lucrative franchise.