Cable services unlikely to change

PARIS — The governing boards of two towns came together Tuesday to discuss a cable contract with Time Warner Cable.

The boards of Norway and Paris agreed, in principal, to sign a contract that will not significantly alter cable services for the residents of the towns.

Under the agreement, the towns are allocated 5 percent of cable fees collected by Time Warner from residents, for the purpose of funding Norway Paris Cable Television.

Traditionally, a hot topic at rural cable franchise negotiations has been how much infrastructure will be built to service town residents.

Now, however, the area is considered to be at "full build out," meaning that an infrastructure has been built to service all areas that have met a certain population density criteria.

Bruce Cook, who has been surveying the region to identify areas lacking cable, noted that there are gaps in coverage, including stretches of Crockett Ridge Road and Greenwood Road.

He said that population density issues are an added burden for rural communities.

"When you're dealing with rural communities, like Norway and Paris are ... you have to fight density issues, which are not an issue in a populated area. ... When you get into North Norway, and I'm sure the other side of Paris Hill and so forth, there's not a lot of density," he said. "There's not a lot you can do out there."

Mike Edgecomb, a representative of Time Warner, said that franchise agreements are significantly different from 10 years ago.

"Historically, we'd always hear from towns, 'what are we going to get?'" he said.

Now, said Edgecomb, the room for negotiation has been lessened.

"Since Time Warner's been in, we've upgraded the cable for competitive reasons. ... It's difficult often for towns ... to come together and say 'we're not getting anything,' but on our side, you are," said Edgecomb, "because we know that you have a state-of-the-art cable system."

Edgecomb said that the contract, which was crafted on behalf of the Maine Municipal Association, does have some advantages.

"What you have here actually exceeds some of the bigger cities," he said, noting that the cable infrastructure allows for television, Internet access, and phone systems.

Edgecomb answered questions about the use of high-speed fiber optic wiring, as opposed to traditional coaxial cables, which deliver services such as T1-speed Internet access to the individual home.

"We have extensive use of fiber," said Edgecomb.

Under the "fiber in the neighborhood" program, fiber is run to nodes in each area, with coaxial cables running from the node into residential homes.

Edgecomb said that the connection speed allowed by fiber is generally not needed in residential homes, but that times are changing.

"Three years ago, we never thought we'd be over a meg, and now we're doing 10 or 15 into a home," said Edgecomb. "So, we're getting there, and eventually, I think we'll have fiber into the home. But you're not losing anything by not getting it at this point."

Just a few residents attended the public meeting.

Norway Town Manager David Holt said that, while the agreement was less favorable than ones historically signed with smaller, local providers, it should probably be signed.

"Do we wish it was more inclusive of other stuff? Yes," said Holt, "but I don't think that those days are coming back. The company that we're talking to is a national company."