Rocco B. Commisso, Chairman and CEO of Mediacom, a publicly traded company, gave a little history about the company. He didn't have a prepared speech, but spoke from the heart.
He then turned the mic over to spokesperson Ed Pardini, Sr. VP of Mediacom, who spoke about the impact Mediacom has in Iowa.
Mediacom cares. About people. About Iowa. About their customers. That's just the feeling I have after listening. I heard Rocco Commisso speak several years ago and was impressed with his passion then, too.
Next up, David D. Smith, President of Sinclair Broadcasting who spoke briefly and turned the mic over to Barry Faber, general counsel. I heard a lot about the legalities of the situation. They said they prefer to stick to the facts, not the emotions, and that they didn't come prepared with a commercial about Sinclair.
I don't have the sense Sinclair cares about their customers. They are worried about the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. Just my impression. The analogy given was something about a sweater for sale in the store and if you can't pay the price, there's no deal. They don't feel it's discriminatory.
Now - to the meat of the matter. It was asked of Sinclair why they won't agree to binding arbitration. Barry Faber replied at length. They indicate they are considering arbitration. The analogy is if you have a house for sale and you determine your lowest price and the offer made wasn't meeting that, would you go to a third party and let them decide? The law is clear that they don't have to arbitrate. They think the free market should be allowed to work.
Senator Mary Lundby, Republican minority leader from Cedar Rapids area spoke at length. She led off telling Sinclair they might do well in Iowa to give the fifteen-minute commercial and she was disappointed in Sinclair's lack of speaking about the customer. Yeah Senator Lundby!
Senator Lundby asked Barry Faber if he has ever been to Carroll, Iowa. No, he hasn't. Senator Lundby has relatives there who can't get a signal with rabbit ears.
Lots of discussion about the FCC laws from Mr. Faber.
I still think it's the bully in the schoolyard.
Representative Wayne Ford says, "it is personal." He was waiting to see a package from Sinclair about who they are, but didn't get background information. He told them they are seriously underestimating the people of Iowa. "Where is the heart?" is one of his questions.
"Where is the public interest?" is the question from Senator Michael Connolly, Democrat from Dubuque. Their response is they are sorry the public is impacted by this. But their obligation does not extend to entering into agreements with private companies who make a profit from selling cable. They indicate they take an interest in the public. They say the vast majority has choices. Senator Connolly said Barry Faber's answer comes up short for him and their policy stiff-arms the public. Being sorry just doesn't cut it. People don't have the choices Sinclair thinks they do.
I'm a consumer and don't really know about the legalities of this. There's a lot behind the scenes. Again, I speak about the customer experience.
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This past year I wrote for the Urban Vibe newspaper.
This spring, I was privileged to be nominated and win an academic achievement award for my technology articles. Some of the topics I covered recently were:
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I'm writing from The Branding Imperative workshop in Des Moines. This morning we had two sessions by Mike Wagner from 
Here's another update on the cable dispute in Iowa. 
What's the latest on the 
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What's the Iowa Blogga Nostra? For hints about where they came from, check out 
Thanks for the feedback on our adventures with Sinclair. We hate having customers in the middle of this thing and are truly turning over every stone to try to resolve it quickly. You may have heard that the FCC is supporting our proposal to arbitrate a solution. It's an extraordinary step and there is the risk that the arbiter will tell us to pay the big number Sinclair is demanding, but as of now, it seems like a reasonable way to get this fixed quickly. We're mystified as to why Sinclair has not agreed to his approach and are hoping that folks who have the same opinion will share it with our senate and congressional delegation so that the FCC might feel comfortable pressing Sinclair further in that direction. If you or any of your readers have questions or concerns, please feel free to write to me at scottwesterman@mchsi.com. I'm the guy with the red tie you saw on TV today. We appreciate your business, especially now.
Scott Westerman
Group Vice President
Mediacom Communications Corporation