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PUBLIC DOCUMENT-TRADE SECRET DATA HAS BEEN EXCISED <br />Comcast of Minnesota <br />Page 20 <br />meaning — that is, "satisfactory or sufficient and not significant."36 The FCCs <br />621 Order prohibited LFAs from the practice of conditioning a cable franchise <br />on unreasonable or unsupported PEGchannel demands.�� <br />The Staff Report, the RFRP, and the NSCC's consultant reports do not <br />even address the subject of what would represent an "adequate" level of access <br />but, instead, make or support a demand based on the purported aggregate <br />desire of all PEG users and NSCC staff. The most telling evidence of actual <br />need for PEG channels and support is found by examining the 15-year history <br />of the current franchise's PEG usage. That evidence shows an inability to <br />program 8 PEG channels resulting in a dilution of PEG content, loss of <br />customer interest, and an excessive reliance on repeat and stale programming. <br />As such, there is a demonstrated lack of need and interest in a continuation of <br />this large allocation of PEG channels or the expansion of it proposed in the <br />RFRP. <br />In fact, the demonstrated low viewership in NSCC member city for PEG <br />offerings may in fact be the result of too many PEG channels. There is a <br />demonstrated history, as shown by channel-lineup reports obtained by <br />Comcast, of the NSCCs inability to utilize 8 PEG channels with local, original, <br />or fresh programming. The vast majority of current airtime on PEG networks is <br />reserved for excessive re-runs, stale content, and non-local programming.38 Old <br />government meetings, youths sporting games from several months earlier, and <br />other programs are played dozens and dozens of times across more than one <br />channel. One entire channel is dedicated to non-local NASA programming. <br />As explained in the attached expert report of Professor Amy Sanders, this <br />is demonstrative that fewer channels would enhance PEG programming; and 8 <br />channels are certainly not justified.39 Stale content drives down viewers and <br />interest, and reduces the success of PEG channels, under basic broadcasting <br />standards. Current media consumption trends and technology also show how <br />36. 621 Order¶¶ 111-114. <br />37. Id. ¶¶ 5,110. <br />38. Ex. 12. Comcast's review of the programming data showed that the <br />average city-council meeting is played 26 times. Other government meetings and <br />sporting events are on average played 25 times and 20 times, respectively. These <br />repeated re-broadcasts occur on multiple channels, including channels viewed by <br />the entire NSCC area. Id. That means that at any given moment a member city <br />resident's channel may air dozens of airings of ineetings and games having <br />nothing to do with his or her city. <br />39. Ex. 6. <br />