(Dec. 26, 2019) Apparently responding to Ocean Pines’ residents requests for competition among digital service providers, the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors agreed in September to give Comcast the rights of way it needs to build a project that will put it up Mediacom.
The beginning of the end of Mediacom’s decades-long exclusive contract to deliver internet and cable TV to Ocean Pines customers took place on Sept. 10. The board agreed to give Comcast access to association rights of way so it can install its own network along the same routes as Mediacom.
Mediacom has been the sole Internet and cable provider in Ocean Pines since it bought American Cable TV in 1997.
In a “History of Ocean Pines, Maryland,” author E.A. Rogers said the OPA cable franchise, which was initially granted in 1978, was taken over by Simmons Cable TV after it purchased Triad CATV in 1987, which was subsequently sold to American Cable TV in 1992.
To clear a path for Comcast to enter the market, the board in July revised contact terms with Mediacom, which eliminated an exclusivity agreement for use of easements and rights of way permitted in the 1970s under federal law. In 2008, the FCC killed that regulation.
Prior to reaching agreement with Comcast, OPA President Doug Parks said the previous contact with Mediacom dated to 1998 and included exclusivity rights granted initially in 1978.
“Once we signed a new contract with Mediacom, it removed that concept of exclusivity,” he said.
Matching the soon-to-follow Comcast terms, the Mediacom agreement was revised as a right of way contract, Parks said.
The renegotiated Mediacom contact altered previous terms that granted the association 3 percent of gross revenues from cable service to now permit collection of 1.6 percent of all services, including phone and Internet.
The lower percentage collected for an increased array of services would likely balance out financially, with Parks estimating the association would continue to net in the area of $150,000 annually.
During the Comcast contract signing in September, Parks said those terms were negotiated at the same percentage of return as the Mediacom arrangement.
“We are collecting the same 1.6 percent, and it’s not a franchise fee, it’s a right-to-access fee,” he said.
Parks was also quick to note the pending introduction of Comcast services would not preclude the continued involvement of Mediacom or affect current customers.
“This is not a replacement,” he said. “They will be in addition to the incumbent vendor which is Mediacom.”
Parks also highlighted the involvement of OPA Attorney Jeremy Tucker and former Board member Tom Terry during the contract negotiations with Comcast.
Terry, commenting during the contract signing in September, said the initial conversations trace back nearly two years.
“At that point, their offer came back with, basically, everybody in Ocean Pines has to buy service through the OPA and that was rejected,” he said.
During the interim, Terry said the lines of communication remained open regrading service options until Comcast recently came back to the table with more palatable terms.
“Basically, it’s an unsolicited offer,” he said.
Terry said introducing competition for cable and internet services could lead to innovative approaches beneficial to consumers.
“When you had a contract, which was Mediacom-only for years here, no one could come in and compete,” he said.
In September, Parks said the Comcast deal also specified terms to provide required infrastructure, with the entire community build-out required to be finished within five years.
“We don’t get to pick who gets built out first, but one of the things we did tell them was that we wanted to make sure that the highest priority we had was to build a backup business network at the Yacht Club and the other amenities,” he said.
Parks also noted Comcast has also agreed to provide Wi-Fi access points and video outlets.
“We’re putting public Wi-Fi out at all the different amenities,” he said. “We pay nothing for the Wi-Fi.”
The Comcast build-out could open the community to even further service providers in the future.
“So while Mediacom was required to keep their network available for everyone, Comcast has to build a network for everyone,” Parks said. “Which sets the stage for any other carrier who wants to come in [to] not just cherry pick where they want to go.”
Terry said opening the community to additional service providers is a topic for discussion.
“That’s one of the issues that, going forward, Ocean Pines has to decide — how many carriers do they want to allow to utilize the right of ways?” he said. “There’s no guidelines that’s been established by the board, that I know of, to govern that.”
The Comcast terms also stipulate that transmission lines must be underground, with the OPA allowed to review build-out, or design, plans, Terry said.
“That allows us to understand what communities are going first, second, third, fourth,” he said. “We don’t pick that, they’re picking that, but at least we will be able to communicate with the community as to their plans.”
Parks said in terms of the eventual service packages offered by Comcast, the association only reached agreement to provide access to easements and right of ways, which does include dictating consumer pricing.
After breaking ground on its multi-year infrastructure build-out the day before Thanksgiving, Comcast officials held a town hall meeting on Dec. 3 to provide residents details about the ongoing work.
At that meeting, Terry said the eventual payoff comes with an initial sacrifice.
“It is my job to inform you … that this is going to be a construction site,” he said. “Be aware this is not going to be a pristine finger-food effort.”
Comcast Director of Technical Operations

During a town hall meeting in early December, Comcast Director of Technical Operation Tom Yates said updated overlay map detailing sectional work to install fiber and coaxial cables in Ocean Pines will be available online as work proceeds.

outlined plans to install fiber optic cable to feed specific nodes, or areas of homes, typically comprising 60 residences.
“What we’re building here is a hybrid fiber-coax network,” he said.
Yates said Ocean Pines service network would consist of 130 nodes divided into eight sections.
“We’ll be able to do the activations by sections,” he said.
Individual properties will be connected to adjacent nodes within 1,000 feet by coaxial cable
“We’ll be putting new cable all the way to the side of your house,” he said.
Yates also said lines would be placed about two-feet underground.
“We will not cut driveways and we will not cut roads,” he said.
Noting the entire scope of work would likely run until at least early 2021, Yates said more precise estimates would be forthcoming.
“We’ll need about a month to understand how much we can do in a given day,” he said. “We’ll know more as we get into the month of December.”
Yates said the first two sections, located in the northwest area of Ocean Pines, should be completed by the middle of 2020.
“Before we’ll do any construction, you’ll see a door tag that will be placed in every home a couple days prior,” he said. “Our commitment, from a restoration perspective, is as good or better.”