{"id":147760,"date":"2015-05-01T18:04:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T18:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=147760"},"modified":"2015-05-01T18:04:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T18:04:52","slug":"comcast-theyll-smile-and-lie-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/comcast-theyll-smile-and-lie-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Comcast: ‘They’ll Smile and Lie to You’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
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Julia Graber<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This week I attended two public hearings where Philadelphia residents vented to city officials about their frustrations with Comcast.<\/p>\n

These were the first of six hearings scheduled to gather input before Philadelphia begins negotiating the terms of Comcast\u2019s next 15 years of operation in the city.<\/p>\n

At the hearings, a panel of city officials listened while people spoke about Comcast\u2019s poor service and high prices, the lack of competition and the tax abatements the company enjoys while the city suffers from severe budget shortfalls. The first person to testify set the tone: \u201cComcast has horrible technical support and customer service,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the only way to repair this issue is to have competition in cable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the 50 or so people who spoke that day, only one had anything remotely positive to say about Comcast (that it provides financial support to a nonprofit she\u2019s involved with).<\/p>\n

Comments like this woman\u2019s were more typical: \u201cI\u2019ve been a Comcast customer since January, and have experienced nothing but anguish,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy do we have to renew their franchise at all?\u201d<\/p>\n

People urged city officials to end tax abatements, negotiate shorter franchise terms and consider options like municipal broadband.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have horror stories about Comcast,\u201d said one elderly woman. \u201cI\u2019m over 80 years old, and have bills over $120. I call them, and they say pay it and we\u2019ll adjust it. So I paid it. They say your next bill will be $22. It\u2019s $140 \u2026 They\u2019ll smile and lie to you. It\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two candidates running for Philadelphia City Council at-large seats showed up at Tuesday afternoon\u2019s press conference and hearing. Candidate Helen Gym questioned what Philadelphia gets out of Comcast\u2019s tax abatements<\/a> \u2013 and echoed the popular demand that Comcast pay more taxes to help fund cash-strapped city schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a teacher and we don\u2019t even get paper from the school district,\u201d said one young woman. \u201cYet Comcast doesn\u2019t pay full property taxes on its buildings?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Comcast paid its taxes,\u201d said Gabe Speller, another teacher, \u201cit would single-handedly shift the situation of our school system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Internet Essentials, Comcast\u2019s much-touted program for low-income families, also came under fire for its restrictive terms and low adoption rates. \u201cThe majority of my students who appeared in the Internet Essentials advertisement weren\u2019t even aware of the program,\u201d said a Philadelphia teacher.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia ranks 23rd in broadband-adoption rates<\/a> among the 25 largest U.S. cities, and more than a third of the residents in Comcast\u2019s hometown still don\u2019t have broadband access<\/a> \u2013 a fact that undermines the company\u2019s attempt to project an image of responsible corporate citizenship. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if Comcast spent more [money] marketing Internet Essentials to regulators in D.C. than to people throughout the country who were actually eligible for it,\u201d said Action United leader Kia Hinton.<\/p>\n

No one disputed that Comcast has failed at serving the customers in its own backyard. \u201cWe here in Philadelphia are very angry with you,\u201d said Monica Rozi at the first hearing. Another woman expressed the same sentiment with less restraint, bellowing \u201cI HATE COMCAST\u201d at the end of her remarks to wide applause.<\/p>\n

Unless and until substantive changes are made in the way Comcast serves Philadelphia, this kind of rage and frustration will continue simmering just below the surface.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a Philly resident and couldn\u2019t make it to this week\u2019s hearings, you can still speak out. There\u2019s a hearing on Sat., May 2, and you can also comment by emailing, calling or writing the city of Philadelphia. Weigh in using one of the methods below:<\/p>\n

Email:<\/strong> CitizenFeedback@phila.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Phone:<\/strong> 215-686-8125 (leave a message)<\/p>\n

Mail:<\/strong> Cable Franchise Authority<\/p>\n

Attn: Cable Television Administrator<\/p>\n

City Hall, Room 702<\/p>\n

Philadelphia, PA 19107<\/p>\n

And to learn more about what our friends at the Media Mobilizing Project are doing to hold Comcast accountable, visit CAPComcast.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julia Graber This week I attended two public hearings where Philadelphia residents vented to city officials about their frustrations with Comcast. These were the first of six hearings scheduled to gather input before Philadelphia begins negotiating the terms of Comcast\u2019s next 15 years of operation in the city. At the hearings, a panel of city […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1616],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-147760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-usa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}