Cable Company Annual Revenues may be soaring.

Here is something any city's negotiating team may consider interesting and useful. Thanks to our friends at the Buske Group:

Based on the national data available for all to see at the NCTA
web site (which I have repeatedly said should be checked
periodically to see if the propaganda coming from your local
company is confirmed by industry stats), the major sources
of cable revenues that are used to calculate franchise fees --
NOT including telephone and internet revenues -- continue to
grow every year to new record highs in each category:

BASIC AND PREMIUM REVENUES
(from http://www.ncta.com/ContentView.aspx?contentId=69):

Basic Revenues:
2007 -- $33.608 Billion (estimated)
2006 -- $32.274 Billion
2005 -- $31.075 Billion

Premium Revenues:
2007 -- $6.477 Billion (estimated)
2006 -- $6.414 Billion
2005 -- $6.389 Billion

LOCAL/SPOT ADVERTISING REVENUES
(from http://www.ncta.com/ContentView.aspx?contentId=70):
2007 -- $4.752 Billion (estimated)
2006 -- $4.296 Billion
2005 -- $3.978 Billion

Combined, these three major cable revenue categories that
are used to compute franchise fees have been INCREASING
at an average rate of about 4-5% per year during the past
decade. (Have you had any rate increases in the past few
years or so?) This is why local governments should regularly
audit the franchise fee amounts that they receive.

Even though the growth in the number of cable subscribers
has flattened, the rate increases keep the "cable" revenues
soaring. Red flags should fly -- and an audit should be
triggered -- if your cable company's franchise fee payments
(or additional PEG funding that is tied to cable revenues) go
down.

Randy VanDalsen
The Buske Group