Cable TV Consortium
The Triangle J Cable TV Consortium is composed of twenty-one local governments, mainly from Wake, Durham, Orange, Chatham, Johnston and Lee Counties to develop for each contracting unit of government a cable TV (CATV) franchise agreement that will ensure that its CATV system will provide its subscribers state-of-the-art cable television service throughout the life of the franchise.
The cable TV consultant and legal advisor work with all the consortium partners in reviewing, evaluating and adopting basic cable rates. Quarterly equipment and installation rate reviews are done by the technical and legal advisors. Consortium members are briefed regularly on cable rate regulation and refranchising provisions. The consultants evaluate and recommend minimum standards for assessing operator performance and community needs. State-of-the-art technology and a feasible timetable for achieving this technology is a part of the technical evaluations of existing cable systems. Direct negotiations with the cable companies will take place as the franchise agreements of consortium members come due.
Public meetings are held regarding local cable agreements, and local customer satisfaction surveys are reviewed and evaluated. Issues addressed include:
- channel capacity (bandwidth)
- reception facilities (headend)
- distribution system (quality and density)
- technical standards
- customer service standards
- interconnectivity
- public/educational/governmental acccess channels (PEG)
