Agenda - 05-03-2005-5j - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

io -~- As a local government authority certified to regulate rates, it is The County's responsibility to enforce the fundamental guiding principles of the Cable Act of 1992 and the FCC's rate regulation rules: "to protect the interests of subscribers from unreasonable rates by ensuring that cable rate is equivalent to rates that would be charged in the presence of effective competition." It is flee responsibility of file County to make certain that the rates aze promulgated in accordance with the FCC's rate rules. Analysis of the Proposed Rate Adjustments TWC's form 1240 rate adjushnents reflect the following external post elements: external costs for true-up and projected periods, inflation from true-up and projected periods; franchise related (PEG} expenses, any program expense adjustrnents, Generally FCC regulatory fees, franchise fees and sales taxes aze external to the calculation of the subscriber monthly bill. External Cost: TWC's form 1240 rate adjustments reflect multiple external cost elements. An external cost is an expense a cable operator incurs during the normal course of business and may be included in rate calculations. External cost categories aze state and local taxes; franchise fees; costs of complying with franchise requirements, including costs of providing public, educational, and governmental access channels; retransmission consent fees and copyright fees incurred for' the carriage of broadcast signals; other programming costs; FCC regulatory fees, and costs associated with channel additions. The form 1.240 Form must be filed with the local franchise authority ninety (90) days before the rates are scheduled to take effect and maybe filed no more frequently than annually, The form 1240 rate filing method represents a departure from the quarterly method of updating cable rates, in that it allows cable operators to estimate their furirre costs fora 12 to 24-month period: this is referred to as the projected period,e The form1240 allows operators to recover prior period expenses, referred to as the true-up period. If a cable operator incorrectly estimates its costs for a projected period, it must correct those estimates by using thetrue-up process in the next rate filing. Inflation Adjusrinent: In its form 1240 rate filing, TWC applied an inflation factor of 2.84% for the last 9-months of the 2004 true-up period, because that was the official rate prrblished by the FCC, Franchise Related Expenses(Public Access or I-Nett: TWC reported no franchise related expenses for 2005. Franchise related costs incuned by the operator may include such expenses as public, government and education access facilities and equipment, signal transportation, headend accormnodations as well as Institutional Network related expenses,. sFCC Fomr ] 210 Forms allow for the recovery of past costs, only, not future costs. Future costs aze recoverable throueh the use of the FCC Form 1240 Form only