It's on the Internet. There's more opportunities on the Internet to do that type of -- and get to the audience that people want to get to. They are controlled by decency laws. I mean, you can't do just about anything you want on there. So there are certain decency rules. There are certainly time, place, and manner restrictions about when you can certain programmings on, that the nonprofit can control the type of programming.
Now, the nonprofit would theoretically accept applications from an individual or individuals who would want to do a half-hour show or an hour show, and then 100 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 they would make the decision on whether or not the studio time would be given to them to do that?
Yeah. What I've seen in the other jurisdictions who have run this successfully is that they generally require that someone file an application, sign up as a member, become a paying member, 'cause that's how they generate some of their revenue. And they also require them to kind of write out what they intended to put out on the air. And then go through training before they actually get into producing anything.
The nonprofit, the public-access corporation. So they require an individual to come in, kind of go through those gates, and make sure that they understand the training necessary to produce it, and 101 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 then have them produce it, and then they do a certain amount of review and editorial control over the type of content. And then they decide when that program is going to be aired.
When cable TV first came to Philadelphia, do you recall, or historically do you know the number of channels that were available, say, on the first franchise go-around?
The number of channels -- commercial, public television, whatever.
The total number of channels in the original channel lineup was about 70.
Let me try to clarify the question. 102 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440
Were there 70 channels that were available, or were there 70 channels that were programmed?
I'm saying that when cable TV first came about, when you looked at the original lineups of what was proposed, there was probably maybe 80 or 90 channels proposed in the channel lineup. There was A lot of different thing that was proposed in there. I think from what I read at in least in the initial, there was only about 65 to 70 active channels that actually had programming on them when they first --
During the course of the period of time that cable 103 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 has been in Philadelphia, anecdotally at least from my perspective -- and you can confirm or deny it -- there's been a larger number of what you would generally term "public-interest stations" that have common. I mean, for example, I don't remember in the early days of having the four or five universities in our city. I don't remember the School District being on there, I don't remember -- certainly PCN didn't exist and we could watch ourselves on TV.
I don't know why we would, but we could watch ourselves on TV this evening -- or after tomorrow's session and every other session. There's been a larger number of those type of stations that are now available to give public information that's certainly, I guess, unbiased or non-commercial. Is that -- 104 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440
Non-commercial. There's a number of -- well, there's a lot of educational channels, and we certainly have the government-access channel. And there's a lot of PBS stations that weren't around initially, and some of them have grown over time. And then we've seen, like any kind of media change, we have certain stations like Channel 48 that became Trinity Broadcast, which originally was a WGTX, which was offering regular commercial programming, and now it's more religious programming. So there's been a swing of programming from the initial days to some of the stuff which you might consider to be close to public-access-type programs.
There's more of 'em now. There's channels -- certainly in our market, there's more of a them now. 105 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440
Okay. Councilman Rizzo touched on this in his questioning, but I want to make sure that the record is clear. What do we require satellite or dish television providers -- or I guess satellite or dish providers, what do we require them to do as far as the City is concerned relative to public access or relative to anything else that we require of our cable franchisee with reports and minority participation and scholarships and all of the things that you've talked about with Councilman Nutter, what do we require them to do?
Okay. So would you argue that those particular providers are the main competition for the traditional hard-wired cable?
And they're making 106 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 an impact in the market. And I think what we've seen at the federal level is, there's been an effort to try to balance that effort to say, you know, that satellite, broadcasters have had an impact in the marketplace. They would argue that they've had an impact, but they're still excluded from a programming that the traditional cable companies have that they would like to have to make them be able to compete.
That the cable companies currently own. And there's a bit of a tug-of-war going on in Congress now over cable companies wanting to do different things. Congress, you know, is also saying, Well, maybe we ought to balance that out by giving a fair right to the satellite folks to be able to carry this type of programming and maybe exchange, 107 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 then municipalities get their right to get some sort of revenue that we don't get today.
Would you envision a situation where, at some point, we're requiring the satellite and dish networks to provide cable public-access channels?
I think that it would be beneficial to the City if we had the same requirements on the satellite companies that carry both our government access, our educational access, and public access, and the ability for us to collect some sort of gross revenue fee for them offering service in the City.
And in your conversation with Councilman Nutter, you had indicated that 2.7 or $2.8 million; is that annually or is that --
What's the annual cost projected? 108 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440
The operating budget allocation was in the range of 300 to $500,000.
I just have a question. The $300,000 allocated for the public access, is that from the General Fund?
That's the way it's written currently in the franchise agreement.
How much do we generate from the Comcast fees into the General Fund for a year?
Well, the total revenue that we're seeing from the cable operators is about 12 million.
Right, 12 million 109 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 annually.
And in the original legislation, was there a percentage to be set -- no, not a percentage. Is there a cap on the amount of dollars that you set aside for public access?
Yes. In the current agreement, there's a range that's set between 300 to 500,000, 500,000 being the upper limits of that range.
Okay. And this goes back to Councilman Rizzo, and you might want to answer this when you answer those questions. Are there any federal laws against the City -- I know the National League of Cities has been in a debate with Congress over fees and taxes and the preemption by federal government and local government. You might be able to find some information from them in terms that might help us with this issue with fees from the satellites. 110 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440
Thank you. Any other questions of these witnesses by members of the Committee? (No further questions.)
Thank you. Next up is our good friends from Comcast. Sharon Powell Lee, Kathleen Sullivan, and anyone else who would -- and Time Warner. I'm sorry, you weren't on the list. (Witnesses come forward.)
-- and members of the Committee and City Council. My name is Regina Martin, General Manager of Time Warner Cable. With me is Mr. John Fogerty, an attorney with Time Warner. 111 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of the proposed resolution. First, I would like to express personally and on behalf of Time Warner Cable our appreciation to the City of Philadelphia for the opportunity to provide cable service to the residents of Area II for several years. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the representatives of Department of Public Property and the Law Department and the members of Council who represent Area II, with whom we've worked on many matters over the years. While we regret leaving Philadelphia, we believe our customers in Area II will be well served by Comcast as their new cable operator. In today's fast-paced world of technology changes and increased competition, a large geographic footprint is an advantage in providing all of the products and services desired by our customers. 112 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 This transfer will allow the customers of Area II to benefit by being a part of the country's largest cable operator with an established presence in this city and region. Mr. Fogerty will now discuss the first of the transactions covered by the proposed resolution.
Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and Councilmembers. My name is John Fogerty. I'm an attorney with Time Warner Cable. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today in support of the proposed resolution providing approval for a series of transactions involving Comcast Corporation and Time Warner Cable. I certainly join Ms. Martin in thanking members of the City Council and City staff for working with Time Warner Cable in this consent process and through the years in which we've operated in Philadelphia. 113 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 I will discuss primarily the proposed internal transfer of the Area II franchise from the current holder, Time Warner Cable, Inc. to its own subsidiary, Time Warner NY Cable LLC. This transfer is completely internal and will involve absolutely no 9 change in the operations, personnel, management, or policies of the cable system in Area II. Time Warner NY Cable LLC will assume all obligations of the franchise and associated agreements with the City. Time Warner NY Cable LLC expects to hold the franchise for only a short period. This internal transfer is a step preparatory to the planned subsequent transfer of the system to Comcast, which is a part of a larger transaction among Adelphia Comcast and Time Warner, involving thousands of franchises across the country. Representatives of Comcast will discuss that transaction in greater 114 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 detail. Ms. Martin and I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. (Councilwoman Miller takes over chairing of hearing.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions? Does any committee member have a question these witnesses? Councilman Rizzo?
I don't know if you can share this with us, but what was the business decision to get out of the cable business in that franchise area?
Well, as I said, this is a part of a very large transaction that involves cable systems all over the country. Adelphia was a company that was in bankruptcy and looking for purchasers, and Time Warner 115 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 and Comcast agreed to together purchase all of the cable systems owned by Adelphia and essentially split them up between the two companies. And then, as a kind of related transaction, Comcast and Time Warner agreed to exchange or swap cable systems which each had in areas where the other had a much, much larger presence. And, certainly, in the Philadelphia area, Comcast has a far larger presence than Time Warner -- not only in the City but in the entire region. And as Ms. Martin indicated, given the technology that we need today, the kind of investment that requires to offer the sort of advanced services that we're providing in the cable industry now like the high-speed Internet service, doing the voice-over Internet service that we provide, to do these, it really is very, very helpful to have a very large footprint. 116 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 So we're getting systems from Comcast in areas where we have a larger presence and they're not as big a player. And Philadelphia was one of those places where Comcast clearly has a much larger presence than we did. So it was put in with a number of other systems into the deal.
Thank you for that. I appreciate you sharing that with me, with us. Was there a specific swap? I mean, you can't say that you swap this franchise area for that franchise area.
Legally, it's -- there are discrete transactions, and we could certainly get you that, but overall, it's a big swap.
Thank you. Do any other members of the 117 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Committee have questions for these witnesses?
Thank you Madam Chair. Ms. Martin and Mr. Fogerty, it's always a pleasure to see you. I'm sure at times the feeling is not always mutual.
Very kind of you. Just a couple quick questions. This transaction also brings out -- there's a very complicated chart. One was drawn and the other has a variety of circles and oblongs and the like. But going back to Councilman Rizzo's question to some extent, what is your estimate of the value of this 118 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 transaction to Time Warner?
I -- I believe and I have to -- I have to check to get precise numbers, but I think it's estimated that the value per sub of the combined Adelphia -- and that's the only way you can do it, because you don't break it out --
I'm sorry, yes, yeah, per subscriber. It's estimated in the neighborhood of about $3800 per subscriber.
Okay. And, Mr. Fogerty, there's an entity called 119 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Time Warner Cable, Incorporated, right?
That presently holds the franchise. That is a company which holds directly certain Time Warner Cable franchises and then is essentially the parent company of a number of other subsidiary entities that also hold Time Warner Cable franchises.
And through this Time Warner Comcast transfer and the disposition of Adelphia assets, if you will, or certainly the spitting up of the Adelphia subscribers, there is this unusual situation where, apparently, Comcast Corporation owns a small part of Time Warner; is that correct?
Yes. Comcast holds a minority interest of approximately 18 percent in Time Warner Cable, Inc. That's a totally passive 120 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 interest; they are barred by FCC rulings from exercising any authority in connection with this, and they're under a requirement from the FCC to dispose of that. And this very large transaction is the mechanism for doing that.
So the larger national transaction is going to unravel that particular anomaly.
There are certain cable systems involved in this transaction which Time Warner Cable is transferring to Comcast in consideration for that ownership interest.
Okay. What is the expectation from your standpoint moving forward? Let's, for the moment, take it that the transaction takes place, franchises get split off, subscribers go to whomever they go to. 121 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 What happens to the employees, the staff, and the facility over at 49th and Parkside?
Well, I think that question is probably better directed to Comcast for an answer, but I think they would be prepared to speak to that. Certainly the --
Well, I guess -- I mean, I'm just assuming, knowing the warmth in your heart for Philadelphia, that you might have inquired.
Well, certainly with respect to the employees, one of the provisions of the agreement with Comcast and Time Warner for the exchange of the systems all over the country is that system-level employees, those who are involved in the day-to-day operation of the system, will be offered employment by the company that takes over. So that would be true of the systems that are going to Comcast from 122 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Time Warner, like the one in Philadelphia, and also the systems that Time Warner will be acquiring from Comcast and other places around the country. So with respect to the employees, that's a provision in the agreement.
Okay. All right. I'll ask about the rest later. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Nutter. There no more questions. Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Our next panel will be Comcast. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon Chairman Clarke, Councilman Nutter, AND 123 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 members of the committee. I'm Kathleen Sullivan, Regional Vice President of Government Affairs for Comcast Cable, and I'm appearing before you today regarding the request to transfer the cable television franchise for Area II from Time Warner to Comcast. The franchise agreement, under Article 2, Section 10(C) and 10(D), requires Comcast to have the financial, technical, and legal qualifications needed to operate the cable system in Area II. And through the FCC's 394 process, Comcast has made that showing. As the committee knows, this transfer is a part of a larger transaction through which Time Warner and Comcast will acquire the assets of Adelphia Communications Corporation. That deal involves a series of transactions by both companies, and is expected to close on July 32, 2006. Ultimately, Holdco VI LLC will be the franchisee for Area II. Holdco VI 124 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 is a part of the Comcast family of companies. However, both the programming and the day-to-day management and operations will continue to be the responsibilities of the same Comcast team, which I have with me today, currently operating in Areas I, III and IV. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee on Public Property, I would like to take a moment to introduce my colleagues. I have Jeffrey Jacobs, Senior Counsel. Next to me is Christian Meyer, Regional Vice President of Marketing. Brian Lambert, Regional Vice President of Customer Service. Robin Proctor, Regional Vice President of Human Resources. Michael Koller, Regional Vice President of Technical Operations. Robbin Holts, Regional Director of Government Affairs. 125 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Michael Kelly, Director of Engineering. Molly Shanz, Director of Customer Service. And Sharon Powell Lee, Director of Government and Community Affairs. Mr. Meyer and Ms. Powell-Lee will address you momentarily, and the rest of the team is on hand to take your questions. We at Comcast are excited to bring our full complement of products and services to the residents of Area II who will be able to join your constituents and our customers with the other areas of Philadelphia who presently enjoy all of the advanced services of Comcast. In addition to traditional cable television, Comcast offers digital video, high-definition television, video on demand, and digital video-recording. We also offer high-speed Internet services. And as you know, we recently launched Comcast Digital Voice, which is 126 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 our new telephone product, in March of 2006. And actually the number of subscribers for this product has exceeded our expectations. Comcast has a rich history of involvement in the operation of Areas I, III, and IV here in the City of Philadelphia, and that began in the 1980s, with Comcast providing cable to your constituents and our customers. Our commitment to this community is evident in the number of people that Comcast employs in Philadelphia. We provide job-growth opportunities and access to skill-based training and leadership training through Comcast University. We provide a robust educational opportunity through the Comcast Degree Program and onsite courses through Peirce College. Our commitment to Philadelphia is evident by our involvement in our schools, our libraries, and our 127 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 communiter centers. Moreover, our commitment to the City is evident in our new corporate headquarters under construction a few blocks from here. I would submit that we do have the financial, technical, and legal qualifications needed to operate the cable system in Area II, and we have a very talented marketing team to drive interest in our products -- video high-speed Internet service and Comcast Digital Voice.
In addition to our exciting product offerings, we will increase our customer service hours to 24/7, 365. We will add a seven-day-a-week installation services, and we will add two-hour appointment windows. We will also add earlier-morning and later-evening appointments. And we will conduct homes passed audits, and employ other strategies to increase the number of subscribers. 128 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 At this time, I would like to turn it over to Christian Meyer to share some of those marketing strategies with you.
Thank you, Kathleen, and thank you to the committee for allowing a few brief moments to describe the product features and benefits that will come to Area II residents upon completion of the Comcast transfer. My name again is Christian Meyer, and I'm the Regional Vice President of Sales and Marketing, responsible for acquiring and obtaining our customers in the City and its suburbs. We see great opportunity to grow in strength in cable performance within Area II by delivering on Comcast core promises as it relates to cable television, high-speed Internet, and local and long-distance phone service. Specifically to zero in on each 129 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 of those three core product as it relates to cable television, we seek to dramatically increase the quantity of shows available on demand as well as the diversity and strength of that programming by more than doubling the amount of content that is available to Area II Customers today, Comcast customers can sit down in front of their service and watch on-demand programming hours a day for three months straight 13 before duplicating any of their content, 14 and that content itself is becoming more 15 and more motivating in its programming 16 powers. 17 Now, 75 percent of that content 18 is free to all of our customers. And 19 with the company's scale and 20 industry-leading performance in this 21 phase, we've been able to leverage new 22 partnerships with local broadcasters and 23 get content from CBS and ABC available as 24 well. We will launch a new 130 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 interactive program guide with new features and functionality that are both helpful and easy to use, as well as launch new programming, including PBS Kids (indiscernible), the NFL Network, and over Hispanic services that are 8 currently not carried on the Area II 9 lineup. 10 In addition, we'll add three 11 new additional HD services for a total of 12 17 carried on the lineup today. 13 As it relates to high-speed 14 Internet, we will seek to increase the 15 download speeds by 20 percent as well as add new features and benefits that we have recently added to our core services for high-speed Internet. One of those features is called Power Boost, which immediately on customer demand will double the amount of download speed available to a given for large files. com discounts, Music Choice, music download discounts, and other features. Lastly, the third leg of our product portfolio has really come to take the shape of Comcast Digital Voice, which is local and long-distance telephone service, which will come available to Area II residents in fairly short order. We will launch that local and long-distance service at significant savings that currently compares to Verizon Freedom package. Benefits of that service include the fact that it works with your 132 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 existing phones and jacks, and you don't have to buy extra equipment. We will launch new functionality for home (indiscernible) phone service like the ability to check your messages on line, and this allows for the launch of new customer acquisition programs like the introductory $99 triple-play bundle that wraps all of our services together at that low price point. As you know, Area II sits in an isolated geography for Time Warner, making it very difficult to bring to bear the company sales and marketing engine across access to the media outlets in the fourth largest DMA in the country typically have made such marketing investment impractical. And as a consequence, Time Warner was forced to spend the majority of its marketing spent on its current customers.
As a consequence of that dynamic as well as others expanded 133 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 service, employee development, and other facets of my business that my peers will speak to, cable television penetration rates in Area II have lagged the rest of the City by almost 45 percent. Comcast has every expectation of earning similar penetrations to the rest of the City in Area II by the product improvements and features and services that I just described, as well as specifically auditing our homes past that we see in the footprint, coupled with corresponding sales activity delivering a significant focus on new-customer acquisition marketing, immediately leveraging the dollars in media spent that we already invest in the City on a monthly basis, as well as continuing the capital investment and new construction of apartment buildings and other multi-dwelling units. Thank you.
Thank you, Christian. 134 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Now it's my privilege to introduce the woman who needs no 4 introduction -- that's Sharon Powell-Lee to my left. Sharon will tell you all about the contributions and sponsorships that Comcast has participated in throughout the City of Philadelphia. Sharon?
Good afternoon, Chairman Clarke and Councilmembers and guests. I would like to briefly highlight Comcast's commitment to the City of Philadelphia in charitable contributions and community services. To date, Comcast Cable of Philadelphia for Franchise Areas I, III, and IV provide 299 courtesy cable services and modems to all schools and libraries. We also provide for our franchise agreement courtesy cable service for all municipal buildings. We are very committed to 135 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 helping our neighborhoods through our annual Comcast Cares Day, where over 300 to 400 employees participate. We are looking forward to building our current Community Advisory Board and working to build Area II's current board. Since 2005, Comcast and the Comcast Foundation have contributed nearly $5 million to the City of Philadelphia's nonprofits. We are also providing $1,000 in scholarships to high school students who demonstrate good grades and community involvement. Many of the nonprofits we support, like the William Penn High School, the United Negro College Fund, and other programs offer scholarships. We look forward to identifying more educational opportunities in Area II. To date, we have awarded over 30,000 through our Leaders and Achievers Corporate Program. This program has made available to all public, parochial, and 136 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 private high schools. Our list of contributions that we have given are too long for this meeting, but we will be happy to provide that for you. Thank you.
Thanks, Sharon. We are prepared to answer any questions you may have. But prior to that, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team from Public Property and the Law Department and also our colleagues at Time Warner for -- we had lots of donuts and coffee together, so it's been an enjoyable process.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Before we go much further, can you describe the location of Franchise II? Is City Hall -- City Hall is franchise what?
Area I? 137 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Okay.
And area II is parts of North Philadelphia, East Falls, Roxborough, and goes into parts of West Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Earlier, I asked the question about what impact will the Time Warner customers see? Other than maybe good things, is there any plan based on the basic cable rate to have any rate increase? Will those constituents see any significant impact?
As it sits right now, Area I and III, IV, all as it relates to basic cable are, in fact, at 138 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 lower prices than currently they are in Area II. So, again, as we get into the system and get closer to the operation, that will become more clear, but our track record so far in the rest of the City is that we are, in fact, offering similar levels of service at lower prices at the standard cable level service.
All the other areas are priced differently or the same?
Area I has a separate pricing structure and Area III and IV are the same.
So you're suggesting that there possibly could be a rate decrease?
You can't commit to that here and now without, again, getting us a little bit closer to (laughing)...
Closer to close and 139 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 fully into the finances of Area II. But, again, relative to what Comcast charges for those services today in Area III and IV --
So the phone won't start ringing the moment you guys take over that the bill went up.
Okay, that's not your plan. The last question is: This technology, the long-distance and local phone telephone service, is that voice-over IP? Is that the same technology?
It is and it isn't. It's described as voice-over IP in that it uses the some of the same core technologies, but it's different in important ways.
Have you communicated with your customers? I understand that customers that have 140 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 switched to voice-over IP that weren't aware that have security systems, businesses, et cetera, that when they need it, their security system, it did not work because voice-over IP will not support the alarm technology, and alarms were deemed unusable. Or, you know, what good's having an alarm if you can't call the central station?
That's right, and that's an excellent question. What are known as voice-over IP providers today, which include names like Vonage and Skype that run on the public Internet do come across those very dynamics, that they are not able to work with the infrastructure that sits inside of a building like that. Our network -- our phone service runs on our own private network, allowing our own quality of service, which is, again, fantastic. But as it relates to the security systems, we do have the ability 141 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 to work with all of the major security systems that we have come across so far in just those instances you have described.
So, in other words, if someone switches to that phone service, they don't need filters or anything for their security systems to work appropriately.
No. We have a professional technician that comes in and installs it to make sure that it's applicable.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the testimony of Comcast relative to its charitable endeavors and foundation work and community outreach. I've seen it 142 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 firsthand, and it's for real, and it's very helpful. But more importantly, how many employees do you have at Comcast? Do you have an idea?
If there's someone else with the information more readily available, they can either give 143 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 it to you or come up. The Comcast commitment relative to its new headquarters is for -- what's the period of time they expect to be in there? Is there a minimum number of years that they're signing for? I mean, I suspect that they may want to be there forever but I'm just curious as to what the on-paper number of years is.
I'd have to get back to you on that. I know we're going in 2007; I don't know what the term of the contract is there. But I know that we have agreed to almost double the number of employees that are now in corporate headquarters at 15th and Market.
Anybody know how many corporate headquarters employees there are? 144 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 See, I think that in the end, this is what your message is, from my perspective, is the number of employees in the City, the number of employees in the region, and I would assume you probably don't know the answer, but if you do, please, the average salary of Comcast employees.
The average salary? Well, we can get that for you, and I know -- you know, I know that we keep growing the number and, you know, we expect to keep doing that, but I don't want to go on record as --
These are family-sustaining, tax-paying jobs that don't have to be in Philadelphia.
Is it safe to say you could sell me cable or broadband or telephone service from 145 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 anywhere in the country?
So you could be in Phoenix if you chose or desired to.
Yeah. They've tried to lure us to Denver; we chose to stay here.
The air is too thin in Denver; it's nice and thick here. But I think the point is -- and I view Comcast as one of our Fortune 100 Companies that chose -- that chooses to stay in Philadelphia, chooses to grow in Philadelphia, and I'm very happy that you guys are going to take over Area II. And I think that the people who are going to get your service will be very happy with it. So I'm happy you've chosen us, and I'm very glad you're here. Thanks.
Thanks, 146 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Councilman.
Thank you. Good afternoon. I just want to understand how you set up the Advisory Councils. Is that per franchise area?
Well, in Area I, III, and IV, we have one consolidated Cable Advisory Board.
All right. Well, I too want to commend Comcast for their investment in Philadelphia and their investment in the community. You know, I don't need to say you've been around a long time, but you have. And I remember one of my daughters was so excited when cable was actually 147 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 finally coming to Philadelphia. So I'm glad that you're here, and I agree with Councilman Kenney that your employment, your -- the marketing of what you do in terms of employing people here in Philadelphia, I think, is great. Your community service is great. You know, Sharon knows we're always referring people over to Comcast for one thing or another. And, certainly, we get the employment notices in my office, and we're always trying to refer people out for jobs. And I think you've been a good corporate citizen. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Sullivan and Ms. Lee, I would like to direct your attention to 148 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Exhibit D in the documents.
Ready? In the Exhibit D, there is contained within that, there's something called Attachment A.
Okay. I believe on , just for the record, you may or may not recall, but certainly, I think by now you've been informed that Attachment A came from the most reason transfer of this same franchise between Urban Cable Works and Time Warner. Time Warner now is the sole owner of Area II. You understand that, right?
Attachment A came as a result of conversations from the previous transfer, and there is an Assumption Agreement here that, in essence, replaces Time Warner's commitments to Area II to being replaced 149 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 by your entity called Holdco VI, an ingeniously named subsidiary not to be confused with Holdcos I, II, III, IV or V, correct? (Laughter.)
Yes. It's an incredible marketing operation. More seriously, item number 6, the internship program, this was a commitment made by Time Warner to have a specific internship program in Area II for high school and college students to get hands-on training and an understanding of what's going on in the cable industry both in the office as well as outside. Your commitment here with regard to the franchise transfer is to maintain such an internship program?
Well, I'd like to call Robin Proctor, who's the Vice President of Human Resources up to talk specifically. 150 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 But I can tell you that we still work, and Sharon does every year, she brings students from all of the Big Five here in Philadelphia, and I'll let Robin speak to the high school portion of it.
Good afternoon, Council. Thank you, Councilman, for the question. My name is Robin Proctor, and I'm Vice President of Human Resources. In your question regarding our internships, we are currently working with the City of Philadelphia specifically with a construction coordinator resource out of the School District to work to provide cable training to high school students. And we've so far, based on their suggestions, identified two schools in the City that we will pilot this. We will actually provide cable training. And the second step to that would be to create work-environment opportunities for the students graduating 151 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 out of high school.
Swenson and Randolph are the two schools that we're currently talking about.
And with respect to college students, we're in the process of working with Drexel University also, particularly in their engineering and project management programs to create opportunities within the company for intern/co-ops to come in and continue to work with us.
Okay. So then, let me go back to the original question. How does your agreeing to this particular Assumption Agreement for Area II, the plans that you've laid out, which 152 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 are, you know, commendable, how does that work specifically in Area II? Randolph is in Area II, but it's not the only high school, of course, in Area II, and there are a couple colleges. How are you going to address those issues in Area II?
I think what we were attempting to do was to try to bring to the schools something that we saw worked. So these are pilot programs so that we can make the appropriate adjustments to ensure that they're successful before broadening them out any further.
Okay. And how many students do you anticipate would be involved?
I think for the high school programs, we're really relying on the City of Philadelphia, their program to tell us. I think they're intending to reach out to any 153 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 students who are interested in cable as a career opportunity, so they haven't given us those numbers yet in terms of how many students they think.
When you say the City of Philadelphia and its program --
Okay, all right. And the School District's internship program?
The School District's internship program for the two vocational schools.
Okay. So you're waiting to find out from them how many student would be involved?
We're talking with them regularly, and I think we're targeted for a September roll-out of this, but they haven't given us a total number of students that they think might be interested yet. 154 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440
Okay. And then on the college side, again, you're just talking about one university?
Right now, we're talking -- we have done internship and co-op program with other universities, but we're really looking to focus something ongoing with Drexel University.
Okay. I'm sure we'll have further conversations. I mean, you understand that Drexel is not -- I guess -- is Drexel in Area II?
Is Area II on the south side? Anything with regard to St. Joe's or Philadelphia University?
Not formally at this point, but I don't think there's any reason why we couldn't look there later.
Okay, all right. And on item number 7, community involvement, do you know how you're going to try to address those issues? 155 06/5/06 - Public Property/Public Works - Bill 060440 Community involvement as well as support for, again, Area II children in the areas of cultural activity, sports teams sponsorship, supporting free or low-cost attendance at art and culture and theatre performance, college and professional sporting events, and similar activities for Area II school children.