The Comcast cliffhanger

Supervisors vote for dubious cable contract extension – but there's still hope

By Steven T. Jones

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has once again been divided by the question of whether the city should get tough with corporate wrongdoers or just try to strike the best short-term financial deal it can.

This time the villain is Comcast and its myriad abuses as a cable service provider, employer, and political operative (see "The People v. Television," 3/30/05). With its local franchise agreement expiring this year and the city unprepared to negotiate with the corporate behemoth, officials in the mayor's office opted to simply extend the current contract for four years.

Activists demanded that the agreement be amended to increase funding for public interest programming and to assure the company follow federal law with respect to labor rights, but company officials publicly said the deal would be off if the agreement was modified. So Sept. 13 the board approved the agreement – and killed a number of proposed modifications – on a series of 6-5 votes, with supervisors Jake McGoldrick, Tom Ammiano, Chris Daly, Ross Mirkarimi, and Gerardo Sandoval all in vocal dissent.

"I'm ashamed," Ammiano said. "It played into the hands of all that is corporate."

Yet the board's approval won't be final until Sept. 27, when a second vote is scheduled, and there are indications it could play out differently. Activists have been putting pressure on board president Aaron Peskin and Sup. Sophie Maxwell.

Peskin told the Bay Guardian he thinks the $4.4 million deal is the best the city can expect in the current political and regulatory climate, but that he has been rethinking his vote against an amendment proposed by Mirkarimi asking Comcast to abide by federal labor law.

"It sounds legitimate and reasonable," said Peskin, who at press time was still discussing the matter with representatives from Comcast and the Communication Workers of America, which has been trying to organize Comcast workers. Comcast officials did not return our calls for comment.

Sydney Levy of the watchdog group Media Alliance said he expects Peskin to approve the labor amendment, leaving Comcast to choose its next move. Levy told us, "The supervisors will have to decide: Are we really in bed with a company that couldn't even agree to follow federal law?" See Editorial, page 11, for more information. The next meeting is Tues/27 at 2 p.m. in Board Chambers, City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl., San Francisco. Peskin can be reached at (415) 554-7450 and Maxwell's office number is (415) 554-7460. E-mail Steven T. Jones at steve@sfbg.com.