LANSING – Changes to cable television regulations have meant more communities with competitive programming providers, but also more communities with no provider, according to a report released Tuesday by the Public Service Commission.

The report said the number of complaints, and the types of complaints, held steady in 2009 from 2008.

Cable competition appeared to be growing in 2009, with 174 communities saying at least one new provider had filed for a franchise agreement and one indicating four new providers were seeking permission to enter the market.

The most competitive cable markets, based on responses to a commission survey, increased from three providers in 2006 (five communities had that many) to four providers in 2009 (three communities had that many) and 28 communities had three providers in 2009. The number of communities with only one cable provider dropped to 212 in 2009 from 260 in 2006.

But the number of communities reporting no cable provider increased to 22 in 2009 from six in 2006.

“The number of providers in municipalities has increased slightly overall since the act took effect; however, the mix of communities with a greater number of providers shows that competitive choices are becoming more available,” the report said.

The number of subscribers also increased in 2009 to 2.37 million from 2.32 million in 2008 and 2.27 million in 2007.

The top three cable carriers, Comcast, Charter Communications, and Wideopenwest Michigan, retained their market positions in 2009, but nine new companies have entered the state in the past two years, including three in 2009.

The PSC handled 1,025 complaints about cable service from customers, providers and communities in 2009, down slightly from the 1,030 in 2008, the first full year the commission took such complaints.

And the types of complaints remained fairly constant, with most, 397, about billing issues. Another 103 were about channel lineup changes and 97 were about problems with service requests. Miscellaneous complaints rounded out the top four at 125 total.

There also was some crossing of categories in the complaints. The report noted that a common complaint was in channel lineup changes, particularly cable providers moving channels to digital from analog ranges. “Customers complained that as channels were removed from their analog tier, they were not being replaced with other channels, and in fact, customers were reporting that their rates were increasing, even though they lost channels,” the report said.

Most of the complaints have been resolved through the informal process, with no new formal complaints lodged in 2009. But two of the three formal complaints filed in 2008 were still pending in 2009 because the formal process had not yet been approved by the Legislature. One was dismissed by the commission and in the other the mediator’s recommendation was adopted.

The third formal complaint from 2008 was dismissed before the complaint process was enacted.

A few of the informal cases also led to formal action by the commission, with show cause orders issued against Pine River Cable and CableMax. Those two companies did not respond to the commission’s notifications of informal complaints. They also did not respond to the commission’s request for information in compiling the competition report.

“It is expected that the complaint levels will either remain steady or increase as new providers continue to build-out systems and as competition continues to grow,” the report said. “Also, as more customers and communities learn of PA 4 of 2009, it is expected that complaints will increase.”

The commission recommended that, for next year, the Legislature move the due date for the report back to March 1 to give providers and communities more time to submit the required information and for the commission to compile it.

The PSC also asked for a legislated requirement that cable companies submit contact and service information to the commission as well as any changes of ownership.

Communities asked that all providers, particularly AT&T, be required to carry Public, Education, and Government (PEG) channels and that they provide the equipment for those channels free to the communities. They also want to see providers be required to cover entire communities in which they hold a franchise and at least one provider be required to cover rural communities. Some also asked for state incentives to attract competitors.

But some communities also wanted to see the new state law repealed and control over cable franchises returned to local communities.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

a>>