BRENT BEAN II
WESTFIELD – A City Councilor is sponsoring a motion at the council meeting tonight requesting the Westfield Gas & Electric Department be considered as an alternative to provide cable services to city residents.
Council President Brent B. Bean II said that it is a request he has made periodically during his tenure on the City Council.
“This is an old thing for me,” Bean said this morning. “Over the past eight to 10 years I’ve asked the WG&E to access an opportunity to provide cable to city residents, to see if it’s something the WG&E is willing to look into because it’s something within our means to create greater competition and lower cable costs.”
“Right now we’re paying too much for cable services,” Bean said. “This is a great opportunity because we’re self contained, so it’s worth looking into.”
Comcast plans to sell some cable systems to competitor Charter Communications Inc., to help Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable clear regulatory hurdles. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
“The service side of the WG&E is second to none which would be a factor in the future if we move forward on this,” Bean said.
Bean said that the fact that the city’s negotiation with its current cable provider, Comcast, have hit an impasse over the terms of a new contract and continued operation of a Comcast customer service center on East Mountain Road, have little to do with his motion.
The city’s original position was a five-year pact because of the rapidly changing technical landscape of the telecommunications industry. Comcast has sought to continue its relationship with the city through a 10-year contract which has traditionally been the term agreed upon by the city.
Bean’s motion comes at a time when the WG&E is considering a major restructuring of its telecommunications system to reestablish its competitive edge, which has eroded over the last decade.
Operations Manager Aaron A. Bean, no relation to Councilor Bean, presented the 2014 Telecom Annual Report to the Municipal Light Board at its October meeting and the need to update the utility’s telecommunication offerings at a more competitive price point.
The WG&E completed construction of a state funded program, Mass Broadband 123, earlier this year that extended fiber optic cable capabilities in the city and which could be a launching point for a revamped program to provide residents and businesses with telecommunication services.
While Bean said “it is not my intent to affect negotiations (between the city and Comcast)” the entry into that business by the WG&E could trigger Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulations pertaining to competition.
Currently Comcast currently operates in a closed market under the contract with Westfield and most cities and towns but if the city, through its WG&E Department, takes enough of the market share through what is essentially an overbuild, Comcast would lose exclusivity, nullifying the need for a license agreement and creating more competitive market rates.
