Golfview>Start>Board of Governors>Bulk Cable Information


The Board of Governors is considering a contract with Comcast to provide "bulk" cable TV services to Golfview.
This would provide each unit in Golfview with the channels in "Tiers 1, 2, and 3" on a year-round basis. 

This information was provided to people attending the workshop on November 5, 2004.

Under the Current Rate Plan (individual contracts with Comcast)			Under the Proposed Bulk Contract (Golfview contract with Comcast)
Length of Stay at Golfview	Amount per month	Amount per year	Amount per month	Amount per year	Difference (yearly)
12 months	$50.81	$609.72	$22.00	$264.00	$345.72
6 months	$50.81	$334.86*	$22.00	$264.00	$70.86
5 months	$50.81	$284.05*	$22.00	$264.00	$20.05
4 months	$50.81	$233.24*	$22.00	$264.00	$31.26

*including a $30 fee for putting cable on "vacation" while gone.  The actual "vacation" rate right now is $32.  The fee for a "reconnect" is $42.


Based on this information, a current customer would experience a reduction in costs for the first year of the contract if at least 5 months of service was received.  Customers receiving this level of service for four months or less would experience an increase in costs.


Individual rates at this time for each tier are:

Tier 1:  22 Channels--$16/mo
Tier 2:  41 Channels--$28/mo  (for a total of 63 channels)
Tier 3:   9  Channels--$51/mo  (for a total of 72 channels)

Some important considerations:

There would be a "cap" on increases in the rates charged under the Bulk Contract over the 5-years of the contract.
We have no such limit on increases under our individual contracts.  Thus, over the life of the contract, the actual dollar amounts of savings will rise and the dollar amounts of losses will get smaller.

Customers would no longer have to issue payments to Comcast.  The fees would be part of the Golfview monthly maintenance payments, just as we now pay for our water or street lighting.

Customers could opt for additional services from Comcast on an individual basis.  The fees for these additional services (e.g., digital TV, premium channels, computer services, and telephone services) would then be billed separately to the customer.

It is possible that, in the future, bulk rates could be negotiated for these additional services.

Recently someone put a "straw poll" sheet on the bulletin boards of each building in Golfview asking if the unit owners were in favor of or against the bulk cable idea.  On November 19, 2004 Bob Ross (Muirfield) tabulated these sheets and provided the following information:

Building	Yes	No
Augusta	16	4
Muirfield	18	2
Turnberry	27	1
Glen Abbey	21	2
Pinehurst	13	2
Pebble Beach	20	1
Westchester	28	0
Sawgrass	17	0
Inverness	13	2
St. Andrews	23	0
Totals	196	14

There is no claim of any scientific basis for this survey, it is simply a straw poll.  If updated figures are available, we will post them here.