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Central Point council to revisit cable issue By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT - An ordinance granting Hunter Communications a telecommunications franchise in the city will be revisited by the City Council Thursday, despite Charter Communications' best efforts to squelch it. Scheduled for an initial vote on Nov. 29, the ordinance was put on hold after a contentious meeting in which Charter, Hunter's competitor, tried to defend itself. The franchise agreement will be considered again at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 155 S. Second St. The ordinance would allow Hunter to install fiber optics throughout the city, providing high-speed Internet access. Charter currently provides cable service to Central Point residents but has been unable to deliver on a promise of high-speed Internet service. Hunter's plans were to initially provide high-speed Internet and data transmission to City Hall, the school district and downtown businesses, and eventually provide cable television and high-speed Internet to residential customers. But phrases such as "cherry picking" and "cream skimming" were thrown around as Charter representatives insisted that the agreement between their company and the city prohibited the city from allowing competitors a "more favorable or less burdensome" arrangement. Charter General Manager Lora Seale argued that the proposed ordinance was too vague and would allow Hunter unfair access to customers. "We're not against competition, but we want a level playing field. It wouldn't be fair if they were allowed to come in and target only certain customers to start with," she said. But Hunter President Richard Ryan argued his company was not asking for a cable television franchise and was not in direct competition with Charter. He said his company would only be offering high-speed Internet and data transmission to begin with and would reappear before City Council to amend the agreement as necessary. "We won't try to back-door you and offer services we very well could on that medium until we have an agreement to do so," said Ryan. But Seale took exception to that as well, insisting a cable franchise was needed. "If they're going to bring fiber optic coax into the city, then that is a cable service and there are a lot of rules that get wrapped around a cable franchise that probably aren't as stringent with a telecommunications fran-chise," said Seale. While he refused to disclose his specific business plan because of privacy concerns, Ryan said there had been no mention of his planning to use the same technologies as Charter. "I'm sure they realize there are other technologies that exist that don't require a coax to be utilized in delivery of these services," he said. "Hunter's concern is the AFN (Ashland Fiber Network) was required to provide technology and implementation schedules because it's a publicly funded venture. Hunter is a privately owned company and has no obligations to share with potential competitors our strategies or technologies," Ryan said. "We feel this may be an attempt to divulge our business methodologies, and that's not appropriate." Council member Dr. David Gilmour said, despite what kind of agreement is deemed necessary, residents were likely to be very receptive to an "alternative to Charter" because of "raising prices and bad public relations." "It's not going to be a level playing field because as soon as someone new comes into town, everyone is going to grab on," said Gilmour. Seale told council members she had been reviewing the possibility of a smaller, cheaper package for Central Point customers. Council members postponed approval of the ordinance pending documentation from Charter proving that fiber optics installation calls for a cable agreement, and that Hunter would not be allowed to provide services to only specific portions of the city. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.