On Demanded

Everyone in Philly who pays a cable or tax bill has a right to know if Comcast keeps its promises to the city.

by Bruce Schimmel

It's something that everyone in Philly who pays a cable or tax bill has a right to know: How well does Comcast keep its promises to the city? After all, we've given Comcast monopolies in cable TV, Internet cable and Internet telephone as well as some huge tax breaks.

For all that, we should know if Comcast is providing the employment and contracting benefits they promised in exchange for exclusive franchises. But until I asked, and former Councilman Michael Nutter demanded, both the Street administration and Comcast were content to keep us in the dark.

And now, having forced the cable giant and the city to open their books, Michael Nutter's in trouble.

In July 2005, a year before Comcast completed their cable franchise of the entire city, I asked Joe James, the deputy commissioner for public property, how the cable company was doing on compliance. "Very well," said James. But when I asked to see actual reports, James refused.

Still, James did tell me this: He estimates that of a total $440 million that Comcast collects for its "Triple Play" — cable TV, cable Internet and Internet telephone — the city gets a piece only of the cable TV portion, about $11 million a year. (Comcast declined to confirm any numbers.)

Not a lot. But fortunately, the city is also entitled to other benefits. For instance, Comcast agreed to provide a percentage of local jobs to minorities and women. And the company must also do a certain amount of business with local-, minority- and women-owned enterprises — which ranges from about 10 to 38 percent.

On local spending, Comcast is actually surpassing their goals. But when it comes to doing business with minorities and women — from cable installation to public relations — Comcast isn't making the grade.

Yet these goals are so important that in 1998 Comcast agreed to get prior permission, in writing, before making any adjustments. And should Comcast fail to show a good-faith effort in meeting these goals, the city could collect some big money.

After Joe James turned me down, I spent months asking several city officials — among them Romulo Diaz, the city solicitor, and Joe Grace, the mayor's communications director — to see if they'd release actual data. Nada.

I also asked the company's public relations officer, Jeff Alexander, if he thought the public has a right to some real facts. In an e-mail Alexander assured me that "we [Comcast] fully honor our franchise commitments with the city."

Finally, just before the June 5, 2006 hearing in which Comcast would get it all, I found someone who believed the public had a right to know: Nutter. During the hearing, Nutter asked for hard data, and we got it.

Now with real numbers to look at, Joe James admits that Comcast has never met certain minority and women business goals, adding that "we've gone around and around with them on this." Which is particularly interesting. Because if the city determines that this "around and around" has not been in good faith, James confirms that the city could sue Comcast for some $4.4 million.

With real numbers now on public view, Comcast's Jeff Alexander has likewise changed his tune. He now says merely that the company "works diligently and in good faith."

Transparency has a way of clarifying things. And perhaps now Alexander will clarify why Comcast fails to pass muster.

But, sadly, at the moment it sounds like Comcast is looking for someone to punish. Alexander, a Comcast VP, was fishing for someone to fry when he asked in an e-mail, "Bruce, let me get this straight about Nutter's office — this [release of info] was before he left council?"

Uh-oh, I thought. Sounds like Nutter's in deep shit now.

So I asked Joe James if he thought Comcast would punish Nutter. From the other side of the line, on speakerphone, I could hear people in James' office cackling with laughter. Officially, no comment. But he says that from now on, those reports will be public.

Nutter's only sin was to make Comcast openly accountable to you. Which is what this city is supposed to do.

As for Nutter, for now, he's also declined public comment. A reluctant hero, for which I don't fault him. But a hero regardless, who deserves our support for cracking open some weighty doors in City Hall.

(bruce@schimmel.com)