AG 1997 04 21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CABLE TELEVISION RATE REVIEW FINDINGS SUMMARY Prepared by Centrallua Council of Governmen~ Franchise: CABARRUS COUNTY Ca~le O~erator: ~ ~TIME ~ARN~R ii i?= "?' "?.i ' "" Tier Reviewed: CPS T~R - 1996 (Revised) Channels: 30 Substri~ as of 9-3~95: 400 app~ximately (S5,660 on entire headend) Date PrepaY: ~1-97 SUMMARY REVIEW STATEMENT: The Cable Programming Service (CPS) Tier Rate has been reviewed and is ACCEPTABLE under required Federal Conununications Commission guidelines. Comments follow. COMMENTS AND EXPLANATIONS: The Cable Programming Service (CPS) Tier consists of 30 channels. The Social Contract negotiated between Time Warner and the FCC sets guidelines in the amount that can be charged per year for this tier. Although the Cabarrus County Franchise Authority does not regulate this tier, information is provided on this revision to the 1996 Form. In July, 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) amended the instructions to FCC Form 1240. In particular, the FCC added new details about how cable operators could calculate unclaimed inflation. Because this amendment was prepared in July, 1996, a full 6 months after Time Warner submitted their 1996 form, they have taken this opportunity to "Revise" last year's form. A revision of the fomi will have lhe net result of revising the "Maximum Permitted Rate", not adjusting the amount actually charged for the twelve months in 1996. A review of revised FCC Fo~,n 1240 for the year 1996 establishes the revised maximum permitted CPS tier rate at $19.37 (excluding the 3% franchise fee), compared to $19.33 in the original 1240 foTM. The revision is due entirely to the amended rules, which allowed a different formula for calculating inflation for the period. The monthly rate for the year (1996) remains unchanged at $18.10, which is lower than both maximum pe~'c:,itted rates: TIER 1996 MAXIMUM 1996 REVISED 1996 ACTUAL RATE RATE AS OF 1-96 MAXIMUM RATE (without 3% franchise (without 3% franchise (without 3% franchise fees) ....... fees) fees) CPS $19.33 ...... S19.37, , $18.10 The purpose of this revision was to adjust the maximum benchmark rate for 1996. Each year Time Warner files their FCC 1240 Form, they must insert figures from the past form, one of which was the allowable maximum permitted rate. Thus, by revising t~e 1996 figure, they can build onto the revised $19,37 figure in 1997, compared to the original $19.33 figure.