presentation on the cable- related needs assessment for washington county cbg communications, inc....

Presentation on the Cable-Related Needs Assessment for Washington County

CBG Communications, Inc.73 Chestnut Road, Suite 301Paoli, Pa 19301P: (610) 889-7470F: (610) 889-7475

March, 2006 Washington County, Maryland

Presented by:Thomas G. RobinsonExecutive Vice President

CBG Communications, Inc.

Project Elements Four Major Elements

Residential Community Needs and Interests Assessment

Review of Public, Educational and Government (PEG) Access Needs and Interests

Business and Non-Profit Community Needs and Interests Assessment

Institutional Network Needs Assessment


Residential Community Needs and Interests

Written, statistically valid survey of the County’s residential community

320 subscriber respondents 80 non-subscriber respondents


Residential Community Needs and Interests Customer service and technical problem

areas were noted including: Telephone answering and hold times Subscriber communications regarding

programming and rate changes Outages Signal quality Speed and reliability of high speed internet

connection Service installation


Residential Community Needs and Interests

Concerns were also expressed about: Variety of cable programming Quality of cable programming Cost versus value


Residential Community Needs and Interests Local Community Access is important

Viewership of current Access programming is well established

Subscribers would like to see more of various types of programming, especially:

Community News Special Events Public/Community Events and Activities Coverage Local Historical Programming Public Safety Information

75% of Subscribers believe it is important for the cable operator to provide support for the Access channels


PEG Access Review

Overall Access Channel Viewership in Washington County

Access Channel

Daily Weekly Monthly Occasionally

Never

6 - Local Government Access

5% 14% 5% 46% 30%

19 – Local Origination/Community

2% 11% 5% 40% 43%

99 – Local Educational Access

3% 10% 5% 34% 49%


PEG Access Review

Comparison with Recent Viewership for Some Other Cable Services

Cable Network CUME (Weekly Exposure) Outdoor Life Network (OLN) 3%

Speed Channel 3% BET 3% Bravo 3% Style 2% Animal Planet .3% ESPN Classic .1%


PEG Access Review Written surveys, individual

interviews, group discussions and a public meeting were held with a variety of organizations including: Government agencies Educational entities

K-12 (Washington County BOE) Higher Education (HCC and USM)

Businesses and Non-profit organizations


PEG Access Review

Key Findings included: Access channel capacity and related channel

positions need to be preserved and/or provided There should be the capability for future

migration of the analog Access channels to digital services, including service expansion capability

There are Capital funding needs for facilities and equipment that can be supported effectively by the cable operator


PEG Access Review

Key Findings included: New, upgraded and replacement equipment

for the governmental and educational access channels needs to be provided in accordance with a schedule to be negotiated between the parties

Regional interconnection should be pursued between neighboring cable systems to share Access programming, promote information sharing and enhance public safety


PEG Access Review

Key Findings included: There needs to be free cable drops

that provide all tiers carrying PEG or public interest-oriented services for County buildings, libraries and educational facilities

There should be free Cable Internet Service, to all public schools (K-12) and libraries


Business Community Needs Assessment

Key Findings included: Broadband services should continue

to expand for the business community in outlying areas

Reliability of broadband services should be increased related to business use


Business Community Needs Assessment

Key Findings included: Additional tiers of broadband service,

especially lower cost entry level tiers, would be beneficial to businesses and non-profits

VoIP telephone services, as well as video conferencing applications for both internal communications and business-to-business applications need to be provided

High-capacity networking services need to be available in the future to the business community


Institutional Network Needs Assessment Key Findings included:

The core backbone network that has already been developed for WCPN members needs to be extended, especially to critical County facilities, public schools, HCC, USM and libraries, beyond the current implementation in the downtown area of Hagerstown, to sites throughout the County and within the incorporated municipalities

The architecture that would work best would be to develop a series of rings that would connect these facilities such that video, voice and data communications could be routed within an organization or between organizations in a highly reliable, fault tolerant manner


Institutional Network Needs Assessment

Key Findings included: A residential system-based data-over-

cable channel I-Net alternative should be established for certain facilities

The cable operator could provide an upstream and downstream path on the residential network, exclusively for institutional data-over-cable use


Institutional Network Needs Assessment Interconnection

I-Net interconnection with other networks and systems would be beneficial to allow the sharing of public safety communications, Access video and other information with neighboring jurisdictions

Scalability Whatever institutional network concept is

chosen, it must be capable of cost-effective growth in both the number of physical locations and communications bandwidth


Conclusions and Recommendations In order to satisfactorily address

the needs, interests and concerns of the various Communities of Interest within the County in both the near and longer term, we recommend that the County pursue cable communications franchises with Antietam, Adelphia and Comcast


Conclusions and Recommendations Such a franchise should include the

following critical provisions: Establishment of customer service standards Provisions that help facilitate critical public

safety communications Establishment and enforcement of technical

standards Establishment of reasonable density

requirements Provisions that help bolster economic

development Provisions that ensure the continuation,

development and expansion of Educational and Governmental Access services


Conclusions and Recommendations Such a franchise should include the

following critical provisions, cont’d: Provisions that ensure state of the art delivery

of Educational and Governmental Access services

Development of reasonable support mechanisms to help Access programming meet subscriber needs and interests

Provisions requiring the approval of transfers Provisions that ensure that the County’s and

Public Schools’ networking needs are met cost-effectively in the future

Protections for the public rights-of-way Protections for the County and its citizens


Thank you

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