Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Joe
Kollin
Published November 14, 2007
Paying
for cable TV will continue to be mandatory in condo and homeowner
association communities where the boards have signed contracts for bulk
service.
Some owners had hoped a much-anticipated Oct. 31 meeting of the Federal
Communications Commission would result in voiding the contracts. They
didn't want to be forced to pay for service they don't want or pay twice
to get a service the association's contractor doesn't provide, such as
high definition.
But the FCC ruled only that a single company can't have the exclusive
right to provide video service in an apartment building or community
association. Experts say that doesn't apply to most South Florida condo
and homeowner associations because boards have bulk contracts, which are
different.
"There is no reason to think that the FCC intended to nullify bulk
contracts through this ruling," said Bradley J. Gross, a Fort
Lauderdale attorney who specializes in business technology law.
Gross said he sat through the hearings and "at no time was it
mentioned or even implied" that the agency intended to cancel bulk
contracts.
Bulk contracts provide lower rates for individual owners, a more desirable
selection of channels and often a channel for the community's own use. In
exchange, everyone must pay via association dues. The association pays the
cable company with one check, saving the firm the cost of sending
individual bills.
Regulators did say they will hold public hearings at some unspecified
future date to consider banning bulk contracts. But Gary Resnick, a Fort
Lauderdale attorney who deals with telecommunications law, said he doesn't
believe the FCC will ban them.
"Federal statutes provide for bulk contracts, so the FCC may not have
authority to do anything," he said.
Since Congress made bulk contracts legal, the FCC's trying to make them
illegal "might be akin to a child disobeying his parents'
orders," Resnick said.
Gary Poliakoff, whose law firm represents condo and homeowner
associations, warns that the FCC shouldn't ignore the benefits of bulk
contracts.
"Common-ownership housing communities frequently use leverage of size
to negotiate contracts to get things like dedicated channels, enhanced
menus of services and better prices," he said. "Bringing
competition sounds good, but in the end it might not be better for the
consumer."
Meanwhile, a Boca Raton resident points out a problem with bulk contracts:
Owners are being forced to pay for their neighbors' cable, not just their
own.
"Those bulk contracts are no bargain when defaults and foreclosures
rise, spreading the delinquents' cost for cable across the community ...
making everyone else's actual payment much higher than those bulk discount
rates belie," said the resident, who fears becoming an outcast in her
community if she were identified.
If cable companies disconnect delinquents' service and reduce the
association's bill proportionately, the discount might mean something, she
said. But cable companies have no reason to do that because associations
are bound by contract to pay a specific amount.
In her association of about 700 houses, she said, 31 owners are in
arrears. At about $25 a month, that would be $9,300 a year that could be
used to pay other expenses or to reduce everyone else's dues.
Q&A
Q. At Kings Point in Tamarac, an owner has always played pinochle in the
clubhouse with fellow residents. As they die, he invites friends from
outside Kings Point to the friendly games.
The board says that on days the clubhouse is busy, each owner is limited
to one guest. Can the board fine him or take away his clubhouse privileges
for bringing in more than one guest?
A. Robert A. White, a Coral Springs attorney who deals with association
issues, said yes, boards can enforce such a rule as long as it doesn't
benefit or penalize one individual or group.
"A rule that is universally enforced is certainly appropriate and if
a majority of the owners disagree with the rule they can either convince
the board to change it, or they can change the board," White said.
|