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Frequently Asked Questions
Programming content is not under municipal jurisdiction. With the exception of FCC rules that require cable systems to carry certain local broadcast stations, cable systems decide which programming services to carry. Therefore, you should write to Roy Russell, General Manager of Comcast of Central New Jersey, with your concerns about programming content. Cable providers sometimes respond to community requests for particular stations. You might also contact the Federal
Communications Commission. Phone numbers and email addresses for the
FCC Chairman and Commissioners are listed here.
The FCC's informative Cable Services Bureau is here.
You can submit your comments about cable programming to the FCC by using
this form.
Cable rates are not under municipal jurisdiction. The New Jersey Bureau of Public Utilities Office of Cable TV regulates the Limited Basic Tier cable rates. Instructions for filing a complaint to the BPU by email can be found here. The Federal Communications Commission regulates all other cable rates, except for pay-per-view and pay-per-channel services, which are unregulated. Phone numbers and email addresses for the FCC Chairman and Commissioners are listed here. The FCC's Cable Services Bureau is here. You can also submit your comments about cable rates to the FCC by using this form. Excite@Home
is an uregulated Internet Service Provider over which we have no jurisdiction.
The Cable TV Advisory Board is however exploring the possibility of adding
a clause to our next franchise agreement to include access for multiple
ISPs.
Information on cable rates in various municipalities is a matter of public record, available through the NJ BPU Office of Cable TV. Each time a cable TV company decides to change
its rates, it must file with the NJ
BPU Office of Cable TV. These notices run in the local newspapers.
The mayors of the towns affected are notified. It is a pretty well defined
process.
The variations are probably determined by the size of the municipalities and the total number of households/businesses subscribing to the service. Rates are not under municipal jurisdiction. But it never hurts to ask the NJ BPU Office of Cable TV how these things are determined. West Windsor is one of three municipalities in Comcast of Central NJ's headend considered to fall under the Philadelphia ADI (area of dominant influence). FCC rules requires Comcast to carry all Philadelphia stations to West Windsor. Last year the Allentown, PA station that replaced WGN of Chicago was deemed a "must-carry" under this rule. The other nine towns in Comcast of Central
NJ's headend fall under the New York City ADI. Many residents of West Windsor
are from the greater NYC area. Comcast chooses to carry the NYC stations
to West Windsor as well, to serve this audience.
This is a common misconception. Comcast does NOT have a monopoly on cable TV service in West Windsor. Comcast has a non-exclusive franchise to operate in West Windsor Township. We have sent letters to neighboring cable TV providers to inform them about the upcoming refranchising process. We have extended to these cable TV providers the offer of an additional franchise to operate in our municipality. We have received responses from Cablevision and RCN. Neither of these companies is interested in a cable TV franchise in West Windsor Township at this time. The problem is one of economics. What would
be the payback for a competitor to build an additional cable plant in West
Windsor Township? The infrastructural costs are enormous. The best possible
return would be half of the households, and that may take years to achieve.
For this reason, few consumers anywhere have a choice in cable TV providers.
This is another common misconception. Princeton Borough and Princeton Township each have a non-exclusive franchise agreement with RCN to provide cable TV programming. We are unaware of any other cable TV provider with customers in Princeton Borough or Princeton Township. Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) provides competition to cable TV and more programming choices. There is lots of information about DBS online. You might want to start your research here.
We are looking to expand our local government channel (27) with our new franchise agreement. We anticipate having broadcast facilities somewhere on the municipal complex on Clarksville Road. Production facilities will most likely continue to be at the Comcast of Central NJ headend in East Windsor. We may be able to negotiate something with
the West Windsor-Plainsboro school system to use its TV broadcast/production
studios. We need West Windsor residents who are interested in serving on
a TV station board. Please contact
us to be placed on a mailing list and notified of further developments
in this regard.
Meetings of the West Windsor Cable TV Advisory Board take place the third Wednesday of every month at 8 p.m. in Room C of the Municipal Building on Clarksville Road, unless otherwise noted on our meetings page. They are open to the public. You can contact any board member directly by using the list here, or by sending us an email. Click here (Adobe's free Acrobat Reader required). Try the Fact Sheets from the FCC's Cable Services Bureau.
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