Cable Communications in the Dayton Miami Valley: Basic Report. INSTITUTION Rand Corp., Santa Monica, Calif
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 066 873 EM 010 142 AUTHOR Johnson, Leland L.; And Others TITLE Cable Communications in the Dayton Miami Valley: Basic Report. INSTITUTION Rand Corp., Santa Monica, Calif. SPONS AGENCY Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Dayton, Ohio.; Ford Foundation, New York, N.Y. REPORT NO R-943 KF/FF PUB DATE Jan 72 NOTE 544p. AVAILABLE FROMCommunications Department, The Rand Corporation, 1700 Main Street, Santa Monica, California 90406 ($5.00) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Cable Television; Community Antennas; Computers; Costs; Home Instruction; Information Systems; Instructional Television; Media Technology; Medical Education; *On Line Systems; Telecommunication IDENTIFIERS *Broadband Cable Communications; CATV; Dayton Miami Valley; Wired City ABSTRACT The report is a ten-part study of prospects for cable television (CATV) in the 13 communities that make up metropolitan Dayton, Ohio. The first three parts deal with the technology and economics of CATV. The next five deal with services that could be provided via CATV. Part seven describes how CATV could be useful for elementary and secondary school needs, and points out that an additional cable could be added to the proposed system for the exclusive use of Dayton schools at a relatively low additional cost. Part eight describes how CATV could provide flexible and convenient continuing education for Dayton doctors. The final two parts of the report deal with issues of franchising and ownership of CATV systems. On the basis of these studies the report recommends development of a network of six interconnected CATV systems, providing 20-40 video channels from the headend to subscriber locations, plus two or three video channels in the reverse direction to permit remote program origination and to provide capacity for future two-way communication services. (MG) 16. .7.1r 0.1 s ..\1 I. CA E MUNICATIONS . 4/ 46. 4 it i %.* ... % / \ AO:. IN DAY.ON MIAMI 10* N i . i VALLEY: BASIC REPORT VW.andvsisas contalesd Is all do*, *mid NM be letteippreted a Me OW "Wee is Mk, el Ow Oohs P. Ihiteelen sod Pod isessialses OTHER RAND REPORTS ON CABLE TELEVISION This is one of a series of publications in Rand's Communications Policy Pro- gram. Previous reports include: Leland L. Johnson, The Future of Cable Television: Some Problems of Federal Regulation, RM-6199 -FF, January 1970. Herbert Goldhamer (ed.), The Social Effects of Communication ilechnology, R- 486-RSF, May 1970. Richard A. Posner, Cable Television: The Problem of Local Monopoly, RM-6309- FF, May 1970. N. E. Feldman, Cable Television: Opportunities and Problems in Local Program Origination, R-570FF, September 1970: Rolla Edward Park, Potential Impact of Cable Growth on Television Broadcast- ing R-587-FF, October 197a Leland L Jonnson, Cable Television and the Question of Protecting Local Broad casting R-595-MF, October 1970. Rolla Edward Park, Cable Television and UHYBroakasting, B-689-MF, Jann% ary 1971. Leland L Johnson, Cable Television and Higher Education: Two Contrataing Experience s, R-828-MF, Sep.,ember 1971: Michael R. Mitchell, State Regalation of Cable Tekuision, R-783-MF, October Rolla Edward Park, Prospeits for Cable in the100 Largest Television Markets, R-875-MF, October 1971. Walter S. Baer, Interactive Televiiion: Prospects for Two-Way Services on Cable, R-888-MF, November 1971.: PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS COPY RIGHTED MATERIAL BY MICROFICHEONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED B.. L, L ,,?ohnso ale f,044 er;,) TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONSOPERATING UNDER AGEEMENTS WITH THEU S OFFICE FURTHER REPRODUCTION OFEDUCATRION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEMREOUIRES PER MISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNrR 1443 if AM an COMMON IN INE NON MEM 11111H: WIC ME IL 1 NW INta CIO IL EMI* Unit MN U.S, DE ARTMENTOf HEALTH, EDUCATION 8 WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENTHAS BEEN REPRO. DUCE° EXACTLY ASRECEIVE!) FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- mom owl sort was INATING IT POINTS OFVIEW OR OPIN- IONS STATED DONOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIALOFFICE OF EDU DirNS f. EMI al FM WON CATION PDSMON ORPOLICY 0 Rand4aNIA MOW A. I A .A116 3 PREFACE In the Dayton Miami Valley region, as elsew:lere in the country, local governments have been under strong pressure to franchise particular cable operators. Recognizing tht great potential importance of broadband cable communications to the public, many officials are troubled by the lack of information and guidance required for wise decisionmaking in this new and complex area. What channel capacity should the cable operator be required or encouraged to provide, and for what purposes? Now should fees to subscribes and to lessees of channels be established and controlled? What particular local needs can be satisfied by cable?What are the advantages of collective action among nanicipalities over each city acting independently? bore generally, how can flexibility be maintained to take full advantage of opportunities for technological advance and new services in the future? These are only a few of the questions that have concerned officials i the Miami Valley. For this reason, the Miami Valley Council of Govern- ments, drawing its membership from 14 cities and villages in Montgomery and Greene Counties, has taken the unprecedented action of agreeing to a voluntary moratorium on franchising to await the results of the present study. Till now, cities in other parts of the country have franchised cable operators in response to immediate opportunities and pressures. Those that have postponed making dectsions have done so independently, with little or no coordination with other jurisdictions. This moratorium by the Council of Governments has provided a unique and challenging opportunity to examine (a) the technology and economics of a variety of cable systems, (b) the advantages and disadvantages of a single metropolitan or regional system, (c) the needs that cable would satisfy in a specific environment, and (d) a host of policy issues re- lating to the franchising, ownership, and control of cable systems. This Report is a compilation of ten individually written papers con- taining detailed discussions and a- ilyses of the development of broadband cable communications. These papers are expected to be of major interest to specialists in the various areas to which each paper relates. The 4 -iv- companion Summary Report deals more briefly with many of the issues treated here. We suggest that the Summary Report be read as background material for this Report. This study concentrates on three main areas with retpect to broad- band communications in the Dayton Miami Valley region: (i0 the technology and economics of cable, (b) the possibilities for new and expanded services to satisfy changing local community needs, and (c) issues of franchising and ownership. In the course of this study, several local committees convened periodically to meet with the Rand study team, to read early working papers, and to offer comments and suggestions that have greatly enhanced the value of the work. The appendices !L.clude the reports of two of those committees, the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and the Citizens' Ad'risory Committee on Religion. In completing the first three papers dealing with the technology ana economics of cable, we drew on the consulting services of Malarkey, Taylor Associates, Washington, D.C. Their comments and suggestions have been very useful. Of course, we bear sole responsibility for the final product. * Leland L. Johnson (Study Director), Cable Communications in the Dayton Miami Valley: Summary Report, The Rand Corporation, R-942-FF/MF, January 1972. -v- INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The ten papers in this Report are grouped into three areas: (a) the first three deal with technology and economics, (b) the next five with new and expanded services to satisfy changing local community needs, and (c) the final two with issues of franchising and ownership. Paper One, "System Designs for the Dayton Metropolitan Area," con- siders alternative ways of providing cable television coverage to the 13 incorporated cities plus unincorporated areas that together contain nearly 600,000 people. The paper concludes that an interconnected system of six cable hoadends, each forming a cable district, would pro- vide at least 40 channels as well as a two-way capability to the entire metropolitan area. As a contrasting case, it also considers the possi- bility of each city separately attempting to build an advanced cable system; but it concludes that this approach seems unattractive in the light of the high fixed cost involved in advanced cable systems. Paper Two, "Financial Projections for the Dayton Metropolitan Area," suggests that a metropolitan-wide system would be economically viable even if it were solely dependent on monthly subscriber revenues and a modest amount of advertising revenue of the sort that today constitutes the financial basis of the industry. The addition of lease revenues from special channel uses, such as educational programming or pay-television entertainment, improves the financial prospects. Notably, the growth of leasei-channel revenues would benefit residential subscribers through monthly Zees, stimulating further growth of the industry. Paper Three, "Coverage of the Five-County Miami Valley Region," considers a yet larger system in which a number of small towns outside the metropolitan area are connected to the metropolitan system through a network of microwave relays. In the near term, the small populations of these towns may make either conventional cable television or advanced systems uneconomical. However, as the metropolitan system develops and as new and attractive services are perfected that can be made available to outlying areas, it may become feasible to tie those areas in with high-capacity microwave equipment now being developed. -vi- Paper Four, "Cable Systems and the Social Geography of Dayton," discusses a number of sociological characteristics of the city of Dayton relating to voting behavior, race, age distribution, and other factors. These, characteristics are important to tale into account in the design of cable systems if the system is to provide programming and other services catering to the special needs of local communities.