Mayor Berry:
  It is my understanding that Comcast is in the process of trying to renew its franchise agreement with the City of Albuquerque.  I have been a Comcast customer for a number of years, simply because Comcast has been the only game in town.  Over those years I have seen Comcast's services decline while the monthly costs to consumers continue to increase to the present level of over $110 per month for basic service.  No HBO; no sports packages; no nothing.    As examples, during the past year Comcast basic service  has deleted channels 64 (TCM) and 47 (Spike) with no reduction in fees charged to its customers. Indeed, the monthly fee continues to increase even with the decreases in benefits.   Comcast offers channels selling religion, sales of jewelry, home shopping, and various other foreign language channels which may be of interest to some subscribers.  I am not such a subscriber.  Such channels are basic garbage to me for which I do not want to pay.
  In my opinion, Comcast is simply ripping-off the cable TV consumers in Albuquerque and has been doing so for years. I hope the current process of review of renewing the Comcast franchise agreement with the City of Albuquerque will address these issues.
Jim Beam