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Rapid Cable pulls plug
Provider says cost of doing business prohibitive
By Kristen Waggener, kwaggener@miconews.com
In a move that surprised many, Rapid Communications made its intention clear last week to stop providing cable services to Louisburg customers.
The last-minute decision came after Rapid was unable to negotiate a lease agreement with Robert Howard or the city, causing the company to shut off service to customers and remove the satellite dishes and antenna from Howard’s property, all by Sunday, company officials say.
“The only reason we made the decision to pull out of (Louisburg) is strictly economics,” said Ron Page, general manager for Rapid’s central region. “It wasn’t feasibly economically responsible to continue running an operation in the negative.”
Howard said his father, Harvey Howard, owns the property Rapid’s satellites and antenna sat on, and he made a 15-year agreement with a 15-year renewal option with Gene Murray of Paola 30 years ago to house the infrastructure for a cable system.
As the cable system was continually sold to different companies, the lease with the Howard family also transferred from company to company, Howard said.
So when the lease’s end neared, Howard said he, on behalf of his father, tried to negotiate a new agreement with Rapid, significantly raising the price of leasing the space on the property.
“From our point of view, it’s never been fair,” Howard said. “Dad signed a contract with a buddy.”
Howard said the initial 30 years of the lease just barely covered the taxes on the property, which is why he sought to renegotiate the fee.
The proposed fee, Page said, raised the company lease from $555 per year to $800 a month.
“It’s too big of a jump for us to absorb,” Page said.
Before stopping service, Rapid was making about a 30-cent profit per customer per month, Page said, which couldn’t cover the lease charges based on the city’s estimate of Rapid’s 120 customers.
“As a result, we would be paying for people to watch cable TV,” Page said.
After being unable to negotiate a lease with the Howard family, Rapid approached the city to locate its equipment on the city’s old water tower, located at South Second and Peoria streets, said City Administrator Jeff Cantrell.
“The problem was when we looked at their satellites, there’s four large satellites,” Cantrell said. “The simple answer is that the tower is not designed for it.”
Cantrell said Rapid suggested locating the satellites on trailers on the ground near the tower as an alternate option.
“Our concerns were the aesthetic and that it interferes with the water tower operations,” Cantrell said.
Mayor Arlen Thompson said Rapid also offered to sell the company’s cable assets in Louisburg to the city, but the city wasn’t prepared to take on that task, especially considering the poor condition of the system.
“All the equipment was outdated,” Thompson said. “They and the predecessors made a conscious decision not to wire new subdivisions.”
The city is also not equipped with the expertise to maintain the system, Thompson said.
“The city did not need to buy a pig in a poke, even for a dollar,” Thompson said.
Page said Rapid tried to keep the system running as much as possible, with the equipment they inherited from the previous company, Charter Communications.
“When we purchased the system from Charter, the system was already run down and beat up, and there was not a lot we could do to repair the system other than keep it going, which is what we tried to do,” Page said.
While a majority of the community received their television channels through satellite providers, Cantrell said, the city has been for some time looking to bring another cable company to service Louisburg.
“We initiated contact with (cable companies) a couple years ago because we saw the handwriting on the walls,” Thompson said.
Cantrell said the city has had previous discussions with two of the cable providers in the Kansas City metro area.
“We were led to believe that there is a possibility that one may locate here, however, due to the economy, they’re not in growth mode at the time,” Cantrell said.
If a company did decide to provide cable service to Louisburg, Cantrell said the city may consider nontraditional approaches to recruiting them, such as refunding franchise fees, for example.
“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Page said. “I’ve spent my life building cable systems over the last 30 years. It tears my heart apart to take these things down and take them out.”
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The last-minute decision came after Rapid was unable to negotiate a lease agreement with Robert Howard or the city, causing the company to shut off service to customers and remove the satellite dishes and antenna from Howard’s property, all by Sunday, company officials say.
“The only reason we made the decision to pull out of (Louisburg) is strictly economics,” said Ron Page, general manager for Rapid’s central region. “It wasn’t feasibly economically responsible to continue running an operation in the negative.”
Howard said his father, Harvey Howard, owns the property Rapid’s satellites and antenna sat on, and he made a 15-year agreement with a 15-year renewal option with Gene Murray of Paola 30 years ago to house the infrastructure for a cable system.
As the cable system was continually sold to different companies, the lease with the Howard family also transferred from company to company, Howard said.
So when the lease’s end neared, Howard said he, on behalf of his father, tried to negotiate a new agreement with Rapid, significantly raising the price of leasing the space on the property.
“From our point of view, it’s never been fair,” Howard said. “Dad signed a contract with a buddy.”
Howard said the initial 30 years of the lease just barely covered the taxes on the property, which is why he sought to renegotiate the fee.
The proposed fee, Page said, raised the company lease from $555 per year to $800 a month.
“It’s too big of a jump for us to absorb,” Page said.
Before stopping service, Rapid was making about a 30-cent profit per customer per month, Page said, which couldn’t cover the lease charges based on the city’s estimate of Rapid’s 120 customers.
“As a result, we would be paying for people to watch cable TV,” Page said.
After being unable to negotiate a lease with the Howard family, Rapid approached the city to locate its equipment on the city’s old water tower, located at South Second and Peoria streets, said City Administrator Jeff Cantrell.
“The problem was when we looked at their satellites, there’s four large satellites,” Cantrell said. “The simple answer is that the tower is not designed for it.”
Cantrell said Rapid suggested locating the satellites on trailers on the ground near the tower as an alternate option.
“Our concerns were the aesthetic and that it interferes with the water tower operations,” Cantrell said.
Mayor Arlen Thompson said Rapid also offered to sell the company’s cable assets in Louisburg to the city, but the city wasn’t prepared to take on that task, especially considering the poor condition of the system.
“All the equipment was outdated,” Thompson said. “They and the predecessors made a conscious decision not to wire new subdivisions.”
The city is also not equipped with the expertise to maintain the system, Thompson said.
“The city did not need to buy a pig in a poke, even for a dollar,” Thompson said.
Page said Rapid tried to keep the system running as much as possible, with the equipment they inherited from the previous company, Charter Communications.
“When we purchased the system from Charter, the system was already run down and beat up, and there was not a lot we could do to repair the system other than keep it going, which is what we tried to do,” Page said.
While a majority of the community received their television channels through satellite providers, Cantrell said, the city has been for some time looking to bring another cable company to service Louisburg.
“We initiated contact with (cable companies) a couple years ago because we saw the handwriting on the walls,” Thompson said.
Cantrell said the city has had previous discussions with two of the cable providers in the Kansas City metro area.
“We were led to believe that there is a possibility that one may locate here, however, due to the economy, they’re not in growth mode at the time,” Cantrell said.
If a company did decide to provide cable service to Louisburg, Cantrell said the city may consider nontraditional approaches to recruiting them, such as refunding franchise fees, for example.
“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Page said. “I’ve spent my life building cable systems over the last 30 years. It tears my heart apart to take these things down and take them out.”