To Be Announced...

For those of you that switched to satellite during the Sinclair/Mediacom dustup, I hope you're enjoying the 10-dollar a month rebate. Democrats in the Iowa house, though, want to make things more fair and competitive between cable and satellite.

Which in Orwellian Newspeak, means raising taxes.

Bill would add 5 percent to satellite television bills

Lawmakers are considering a 5 percent "equalization tax" on satellite bills, which would be similar to the 5 percent franchise fee currently added to the bills of many cable customers.

The tax would cost Iowa's estimated 200,000 families that use satellites an extra $2.5 million to $3 million each year, according to information from the Iowa Cable and Telecommunications Association.

Satellite users, such as customers of DirecTV, for years have avoided paying the franchise fee, which has traditionally been viewed as payment to use city-owned rights of way to lay cable lines.

I guess they have to call it an "equalization tax" because nobody in their right minds believes that a small dish on the roof of your house is in any way using "city-owned rights of way"...

There are no poles, lines, streets, cables...or any other possible difficulty posed to cities for putting a dish on your own property and using your own supply of electricity to run it. Hmmm.

Still...raising taxes is usually the fairest thing to do since all those people switched to satellite and are no longer paying the franchise taxes that cities impose on land-based cable companies.

You see, the guvmint wants to "wet their beak" a little.

Des Moines, for example, collected more than $1.7 million from the fees in 2002. Last year, the city collected roughly $400,000 less.

Advocates, however, say the tax would create more fair competition. Franchise fees put cable companies at a disadvantage, they say.

"It is not a new tax," said Tom Graves, a lobbyist for the Iowa Cable and Telecommunications Association, which works closely with Mediacom and other cable providers in the state. "It will bring taxes back that have gone away from cities."

Democrats have a mandate, you see...

-----------
-----------
Support the Advertisers that support GregAlan.net!

Official Release April 24th. Pre-order yours now!

WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete First Season (3 Discs)

Labels: mediacom

This is just weird. But...when you gotta go, you gotta go...

Cemetery urination cost man his TV job

A photographer for a Cedar Rapids television station has been fired for urinating in a cemetery while covering the funeral of an Iowa soldier killed in Iraq.

Gerry Edwards of Center Point was dismissed in December by KGAN-TV, where he was a photographer for 24 years.

In November, Edwards was at a cemetery to cover the funeral procession for Sgt. James Musack, 23, of Riverside.

While waiting for the procession to arrive, Edwards urinated on the ground near a cemetery monument.

It was a little more involved than that, though...

A journalist from a Kalona newspaper was nearby and photographed the incident. The editor sent the photo by e-mail to KGAN managers with a note that said, "Urinating behind a statue of Mary in a Catholic cemetery within clear view of a public road, not to mention the numerous members of the Army who were on hand for the funeral, is inexcusable."

Had this made the news, it might have given KGAN a ratings boost just as they were going into negotiations with Mediacom. At the time, the question of having the station available on the Mediacom lineup hadn't been totally figured out.

At a recent hearing on Edwards' request for unemployment benefits, he testified that he was unable to leave the cemetery to urinate for fear of missing the funeral procession.

"I feel like I did nothing wrong except take care of business," Edwards said.

"If I went in my pants, that would be really unprofessional. If anybody saw me, you know, walking around — it would have froze. So I'd have icy urine on my pants."

Just wondering how many photographers might have had a similar problem with all the hype around the Anna Nicole Smith funeral.


-----------
-----------
Sign up to the new GregSays Newsletter. Weekly highlights, unique insider information and valuable extra content delivered right to the email address you provide. Your Privacy guaranteed.

Labels: mediacom

FLASH!

Just in time for the Super Bowl on Sunday...

Get out the Drudge siren...

Mediacom, Sinclair reach retransmission agreement

Mediacom Communications Corp. today announced that it has reached a retransmission consent agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.

The agreement means that KGAN-TV in Cedar Rapids, KDSM-TV in Des Moines and 20 other stations in 11 states will be immediately restored on Mediacom cable systems.

Good...on with your lives, now.

And you lawmakers? You didn't have ANYTHING to do with this, so don't go huffin and puffin how you are doing so much for us little citizens...

And, get back to work on the budget, education, taxes, Iraq, Social Security, health care...


-----------
-----------
Sign up to the new GregSays Newsletter. Weekly highlights, unique insider information and valuable extra content delivered right to the email address you provide. Your Privacy guaranteed.

Labels: mediacom, sinclair

So...how's that Iraq situation going?

Senate chairman tells FCC to mediate Mediacom-Sinclair dispute

Don't know...we're too busy scrambling to get in on the Super Bowl publicity...

DES MOINES - The leaders of a U.S. Senate committee that oversees the Federal Communications Commission have told the FCC to step in and resolve a conflict between cable operator Mediacom Communications Corp. and Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Since channel 2 (KGAN) went dark on my Mediacom lineup, I've gotta say I've actually enjoyed some of the other stuff they're putting on that channel instead of CBS. BUT...a lot of people want something done in time for this Sunday's big game...I think they should get a life.

That leaves thousands of cable subscribers unable to watch the Super Bowl, to be broadcast on CBS on Sunday, unless they switch to a satellite provider or get an antenna to catch the signal off the air.

The letter to [FCC Chairman] Martin specifically voiced concern that some cable subscribers may miss the Super Bowl.

"Last year some Alaskans were denied access to the Super Bowl and we do not want to see a similar situation happen on other states," the letter said. "I urge you and your colleagues to take immediate action to resolve this dispute which could include binding arbitration."

Oh good grief...we actually have important US Senators wasting our time and money on this nonsense?

There are alternatives...and apparently there is good company in finding something else to do:

Many Americans Feel Super Bowl Sunday Isn't So Super

Almost a quarter of the people tune in to the game just to see the commercials (me included)...but you can see them all without getting out the rabbit ears or subscribing to DirectTV in time for Sunday by going to the NFL website, www.nfl.com

And here are some other tips: Super Bowl alternatives

My own tips?

• See a movie (Galaxy 16 is the best theatre, I think). I recommend The Pursuit of Happyness, or the movie I plan on seeing, Babel. If you're itching for football, We Are Marshall I hear is pretty good.
• Read a book...I'm re-reading Without Remorse by Tom Clancy. A great back-story about John Clark, the CIA ruffian that I wish would be the next movie they make out of a Tom Clancy novel.
• Play with your kids...something I haven't had a whole lot of time to do with all the construction going on in the house. In fact, my soon-to-be 4yr old is starting to learn to read, so I'll be working on that some more.
• Go skiing...Sundown Mountain was hurt real bad last year with the lack of snow. Not the case this year and the slopes are usually abandoned on Super Sunday. You'll have the run of the runs.
  

On another note...this has to be one of the greatest public relations disaster to have Mediacom announce a rate increase.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Fortunately, I don't meet any of the conditions that will see an increase:

- $1 monthly increase in the charge for a standard digital converter with remote, to $6.
- $2 monthly increase in the cost of a base digital converter with remote, to $6.
Base Digital
- $1.50 monthly increase in the cost for a DVR/HDTV receiver with remote, to $6.
- $1 monthly increase in the cost of HBO, to $14.95.
- $1 monthly increase in the cost of Showtime, to $10.95.
- $1 monthly increase in the cost of Cinemax, to
$10.95.
- $3 monthly increase in Internet service charge for customers providing their own cable modems.
- $4 monthly increase in charges Mediacom Online charges for Media Max Two Star, Four Star, Choice and Total packages.

-----------
-----------
Sign up to the new GregSays Newsletter. Weekly highlights, unique insider information and valuable extra content delivered right to the email address you provide. Your Privacy guaranteed.

Labels: mediacom, sinclair

Call me a cynic or whatever...but I have to say that having lost KGAN (CBS) from my Mediacom lineup hasn't caused me to think that I should get a politician involved in my viewing habits.

My libertarian leanings just won't allow it.

Just like establishing the "Do Not Call List" which provided a government protection from telemarketing phone calls, I can't for the life of me think that I need a politician to save me from the horrors of missing CSI. But after reading the story below, I see that it's just a waste of time anyway...

Iowa lawmakers to weigh in on cable dispute

DES MOINES, Iowa - The dispute between Sinclair Broadcast Group and MediaCom Communications is scheduled to get a public airing at the Statehouse this week. Members of the Joint Oversight Committee are expected to question top executives of the two companies tomorrow.

Committee members acknowledge the Legislature doesn't have the authority to intervene in the dispute, but they hope to bring some clarity to the issue.

The companies' C-E-O's are expected to attend tomorrow's meeting -- Rocco Commisso from Mediacom and David Smith from Sinclair.

Great. Clarity. That goodness we have such responsible and attentive leadership in Des Moines. Now that I'll be able to see it clearly with all that clarity they'll bring to the issue, I'll feel better. I hope they have some testimony about how to install rabbit ears. After six or seven stories in the Cedar Rapids Gazette about how to do just that - I'll need the Iowa Legislature to give me the final word.

Thankfully, I still have KCRG (ABC) on my channel list and I can watch the proceedings:

'Supernanny' casting comes to Iowa

Casting associates from ABC's hit show "Supernanny" are interested in receiving applications from Iowa families who feel their out-of-control household could use a little help.

On the show, British parenting expert and author Jo Frost works with families to help even the toughest infants, kids and teens and restore order to American households. Frost offers hands-on advice to parents on how to juggle their personal and professional lives with their parental responsibilities.

Casting associates will be visiting Des Moines and Omaha Feb. 4 through 11 and would like to visit applicants if they find the families' needs compelling...

To apply call 1-877-NANNY-TIME, e-mail Holub at bholub@ricochettelevision.com or go to www.ABC.com, keyword "supernanny," and follow the links to the casting application.

We seem to be a "supernanny" state anyway...

Labels: mediacom, sinclair

...Or do legislators have way too much time on their hands? I thought they were elected to do the people's business. I cannot believe the matter of one television station missing from the more than 400 others is causing such a ruckus.

SENATORS WANT STATIONS BACK

“Today, we are calling on Sinclair to immediately allow Mediacom to resume carrying the KDSM signal in Des Moines market and the KGAN signal in Cedar Rapids until both sides have a chance to appear before the Government Oversight Committee and to resolve this dispute,” wrote the senators, including Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City; Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville; Rob Hogg, D-Marion; Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines; Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids; and Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

They're all Democrats! What in the world are they wasting our time for? Health care? Property taxes? School funding? The budget? Minimum wage? And THIS is what takes up time in the first few weeks of the session?

“We are disappointed to learn about the cancellation of today’s meeting of the Joint Government Oversight Committee of the Iowa Legislature to review the facts in the Mediacom-Sinclair retransmission dispute,” they said. “Resolution of this protracted dispute is overdue. Iowans want this dispute to stop disrupting their lives.”

Oh...my...God. It's either their stupidity and lack of something real to do...or their inflated sense of self importance.

Disrupting lives. I can't type anymore. I don't know what else to say.

Labels: mediacom, sinclair