Other Bulk Television Service Providers
As most of you know, providing cable television is almost a monopoly in most locations. Comcast has the most commanding presence in our geographic area but there are alternatives. Two companies in southeast Florida do provide bulk service to condominium and home owner associations. Blue Stream Fiber is headquartered in Coral Springs and Hotwire Communications is in Fort Lauderdale.
The monthly cost for similar service packages is relatively the same for all three. There is no apparent major cost difference between them. The Board of Directors has decided on renewing a contract with Comcast for a number of reasons.
- Blue Stream and Hotwire require 10 year contracts.
- Comcast is offering a six year contract, renegotiable after 4 years.
- With rapidly changing technologies, we felt the shorter contract period to be a good benefit.
- Blue Stream requires space to install large satellite dishes to receive their signal. It is questionable as to where those would be installed since we have no area at Tranquility to do so.
- Hotwire requires that we provide a secure are that is climate controlled to house their equipment. We have no such common area.
- In lieu of secure space in a building, Hotwire could provide a trailer on site which we would have to fence in, provide electricity and offer video camera coverage for security.
- Both Blue Stream and Hotwire have extremely bad reputations and reviews for customer and technical service.