EASTON, Pa. — Easton residents soon may have a new option for internet and cable services.
Philadelphia-based provider Comcast is aiming to ink a deal with city council Wednesday.
Comcast Cable Senior Director of Government Affairs Brian R. Jeter gave City Council members a presentation Tuesday before a vote on an agreement between the city and business.
It offered a few details on the proposal that could shake up the internet and cable scene in the city.
Over a five-year rollout, Comcast would offer residents XFinity service, along with Comcast Business for “businesses of all sizes — your mom-and-pop barber shop, salons and certainly Fortune 100 companies,” Jeter said.
“We're the largest cable and broadband provider in the United States — over 24 million subscribers for video customers, [and] almost 26 million internet customers in 39 states and the District of Columbia,” he said.
Entering the market
City residents now have RCN and Service Electric as internet and cable providers, with DIRECTV offering cable, but not internet.
Frequent complaints about pricing among the existing entities could open up a prime opportunity for Comcast, especially with introductory or promotional pricing, which could lead to the providers battling it out to the benefit of local customers.
According to Jeter, Comcast would need to drop $15 million in capital investments for infrastructure, including 78.4 miles of cable.
The bulk of cable would be aerial, likely installed along existing telephone poles, amounting to 68.7 miles, with an additional 9.7 miles underground.
“So we will partner with and work very closely with Met-Ed and the pole owners in order to build the network," Jeter said.
"It is a large build. As you can see, 90 percent of the build is aerial, so Med-Ed, who we have a great relationship with already, will be an important partner in this process.”
Jeter said exploring details of the city will be instrumental during the build, especially finding existing conduits which could prove useful, as well as locating and working around road moratoriums.
Concerns over restrictions in the downtown district of the city prompted Jeter to repeat the standard for following the existing utilities, “whether that’s aerial or underground, is almost 95 percent, in my experience, what we would do.”
The contract with the city, which is up for approval in Wednesdays’ budget, would last for 10 years, which is standard in most cases outside of Verizon, which usually opts for five-year contracts.
'Competitiveness of pricing'
According to Jeter, a basic cable-and-internet package for an Easton Comcast resident likely would cost about $100 per month.
“There’ll certainly be offers in the marketplace once we activate service,” he said.
“That's what we have seen in places like Coopersburg and Upper Saucon, where we've built the network and activated the network.
“The studies that we see, and the connectivity to those types of audiences, show broadband in the home has an exponentially better opportunity for them, for job skills and to do homework online. The studies speak for themselves”Brian R. Jeter
"You have seen a shift in in the competitiveness of pricing, whether that's broadband, video, mobile service. You seen bundles, you’ve seen contract, non-contract, you’ve seen that activity increase because there's a new entrant and there's new competition in the marketplace.”
The Xfinity website shows a 1,000 Mbps internet package with the mid-grade 125+ channel cable package retails for $110 per month, before taxes and fees.
In addition, Comcast would offer Xfinity Internet Essentials, a program of low--cost internet service for eligible individuals and families who receive some form of federal, state, or local public assistance.
The provider has established 10 million connections through the program, Jeter said.
“The studies that we see, and the connectivity to those types of audiences, show broadband in the home has an exponentially better opportunity for them, for job skills and to do homework online," Jeter said. "The studies speak for themselves.
“So as we activate the network, that Internet Essentials program will be available to city residents, as long as they qualify accordingly.
"And we think that that also separates us from our competitors, that I'm not aware that they have a program as A, robust, or B, that type of offering to city residents.”
Jeter also said Comcast has invested nearly $700 million in digital literacy training and awareness and provided around 135,000 low-income Americans with affordable, subsidized computers.
'It's good to have competition'
Jeter said that while the buildout will take five years, “we activate as we build,” so certain parts of the city could see service shortly.
Conditions including the approval of permits and the structure of the build will play a part in what areas see service first, but Jeter said “in no way, shape, or form are we picking one neighborhood over another.”
“I’m very excited; I’ve been trying to get them for the last five or seven years,”Sal Panto Jr.
The hub for the service also may factor in, Jeter said, whether that means coming from Freemansburg or from Bethlehem Township.
Councilman Ken Brown was curious about how Comcast could handle local sports coverage, as “Easton is a very sports-oriented entity.”
Jeter said that while NBC Sports has hosted the Lehigh/Lafayette game in the past, local coverage would be dependent upon “the programming folks.”
But access to certain local channels likely would keep high school-level games available, to some degree at the very least.
Councilmembers appeared receptive to the presentation, with Brown and Frank Pintabone encouraging competition in the spectrum that could benefit local customers, and applauding Comcast’s offerings for low-income residents.
“I’m very excited; I’ve been trying to get them for the last five or seven years,” Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said. He said internet service was integral, especially for young students these days.
“I’m glad they’re coming to the Valley," Panto said. "It’s good to have competition. This will make three choices the residents will have, and they can go with the best price.”
Easton City Council will vote on the 10-year agreement at its Wednesday, Dec. 11, meeting.
