Tag Archives: UTOPIA

Headend Brawl: UTOPIA and Provo at Odds on Shared Assets

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As the clock ticks down on a contract between UTOPIA and Provo for a shared video headend, the fight over who owes who money is starting to heat up. I’ve had a lot of anonymous tipsters relating details and rumors over some strong disagreements regarding compensating UTOPIA for their portion of the headend, a subject that appears to be strongly muddied by unclear contracts with Broadweave.

I’m no lawyer, but from looking at the headend agreement, it appears that Provo sold UTOPIA’s interest in both the VOD and Wildvine servers to Broadweave as a part of the sale of iProvo and used UTOPIA’s unused exercise of the right of first refusal as consent to do so. If that is the case, UTOPIA would naturally like to be paid for their share of that asset; it just isn’t clear who should cut the check, City of Provo or Broadweave. Given that the total is rumored to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range, I can imagine that all parties involved are taking a strong stance on their respective positions.

The Daily Herald reported that both Kevin Garlick of Provo and Todd Marriott of UTOPIA are confident they can work something out, though I’ve heard that the problem in all of this is Broadweave CEO Steve Christensen who refuses to reach any kind of agreement. It looks like the headend agreement with Broadweave was signed in August of 2007 and I don’t think UTOPIA was involved in that discussion. This is coming back to bite Provo since they decided to make a lot of assumptions instead of talking it through with their partner.

Given the price tag and the tight financial situations with Provo, UTOPIA and Broadweave, I’m anticipating that this disagreement will get ugly if none of the sides plans to budge. Here’s to hoping they work out some kind of equitable solution instead of ended up in an “all sides lose” expensive legal action.

Centerville Mulls Using RDA Money to Expand UTOPIA

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The David County Clipper reports that Centerville is thinking about using redevelopment agency funds to push UTOPIA construction in their city. The idea, which is in very early stages, is to use the presence of the network as a lure for high-tech companies. Nothing in final, but this presents a unique way for cities to expand UTOPIA using an existing funding mechanism.

Utah Fiber Networks, Watch Your Back

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It looks like there’s a new sherriff in town: UTOPIA Watchdog and Broadweave Watchdog. The sites are registered anonymously, but the information posted leads me to believe that the person(s) operating them has been following both systems very closely and plans to not hold back at all. For instance, the websites allege that Provo intentionally over-valued the video headend in an effort to prevent UTOPIA from exercising the right of first refusal. (That would go a long way towards explaining the acrimony between the two over this shared asset.) I’m sure that as time goes by, we’ll see some interesting developments popping up on these two sites.

UTOPIA Prices on the Rise?

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While many cablecos and telcos are holding the line on broadband pricing, UTOPIA may be stepping it up a notch. FuzeCore lists pricing for Internet connections that is more money for less bandwidth than we’re used to getting. XMission lists similar pricing for UTOPIA services in Tremonton, though the prices for other UTOPIA cities is largely unchanged. Neither Nuvont nor Veracity disclose their pricing up-front (at least as far as I can tell).

Commenters who contacted service providers for pricing in Tremonton have gotten quotes of install costs in the $30-60 range. It’s entirely possible that UTOPIA is trying out some new pricing models that build the cost of the install into the monthly fee similar to what cable and phone companies already do. The real question is if pricing will drop once the install is paid for or if customers could choose to pay off the install cost in exchange for a lower monthly fee. I’m also wondering if the pricing in Tremonton will be rolled out to other UTOPIA markets should it prove successful.

UTOPIA (Finally) Launches New Website

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After many months of waiting, UTOPIA has launched a new website (warning: sound and Flash ahead). It also includes a form for you to submit contact information to UTOPIA to check for service in your area and express your interest in signing up when it becomes available, apparently they hired a business web design firm that help with all the problems the old site had.  It also lists FuzeCore and Fibernet as providers (in addition to XMission, Veracity and Nuvont), but Mstar is still absent from the list. None of the providers on the website are shown as providing video, definitely a cause for some concern. The site is also lacking any kind of newsletter sign-up or RSS feed for updates. Still, this is a marked improvement over the presumed-dead static site that had been up for years.

UTOPIA Adds Fibernet as a New Provider

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Local ISP and co-location company Fibernet has been added a new provider on UTOPIA. It appears that they will be providing Internet-only services and plan to serve both homes and businesses. The official press release is light on details and Fibernet doesn’t currently have UTOPIA pricing on their website.

As an aside, this popped up in Google Alerts and I didn’t end up getting a copy of the press release directly despite a promise that I would be on that list. Hey UTOPIA guys? On the ball with the information distrubution por favor?

FuzeCore Announced as a New Service Provider

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Talk about out of the loop… I found out today that FuzeCore has become a new provider on the UTOPIA network. Their website indicates that they are a triple-play provider, though they plan to only offer voice and data for now. Unfortunately, the pricing looks out-of-sync with the pricing from other providers. Anyone know any more details?

Light the Fiber: UTOPIA Available in Tremonton

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Good news for those that haven’t heard yet: UTOPIA service is now available in Tremonton. Both XMission and Nuvont are selling services and the word on the street is that the install fees are rock-bottom (under $60). If you’ve been waiting for UTOPIA in Tremonton, wait no more!

Liveblogging: UTOPIA Board Meeting, October 27, 2008

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This is a liveblog of the UTOPIA Board Meeting on October 27, 2008.

10:43AM The meeting is now adjourned.

10:42AM Sorry about the hiccup. Looks like my hosting company had to do another emergency reboot.

10:36AM UTOPIA is also working with RUS and has finally been able to open a dialog. The head-end is also nearing completion and there was mention of video production services. Could this mean that public access is in the works like on iProvo?

10:33AM The plan is still to bring in business providers and more business accounts.

10:29AM Todd Marriot is delivering an update on the network status. They plan to have 4-5 new triple-play providers Real Soon Now™ and are still working with Tetratech and PacketFront. They’ve also been doing upgrades to the core to make it “carrier class”. The current plan, however, is unwritten. As I’ve found on my own, they have been visiting city councils to give them updates and have been doing so in groups of two to avoid having to make them open meetings.

10:26AM The motion to create Finance, Construction and Membership committees carried.

10:23AM The topic at hand is the lack of data available to evaluate. Marriott’s position is that they still need to carefully guard a lot of data. Amazingly enough, he had a meeting with Royce Van Tassell and the UTA now supports UTOPIA’s success as best for the taxpayers. It’s good to heard that UTOPIA is working with one-time rivals to bring good ideas in-house.

10:21AM Todd Marriott is now presenting an update on UTOPIA’s status.

10:20AM The motion carried for reform the executive committee without Centerville.

10:19AM Paul Cutler has asked that Centerville remain on the executive committee since they would normally have another year of service. Brent Grotegut of Payson has spoken strongly against this as he believes the current executive committee membership is responsible for the problems UTOPIA has experienced.

10:18AM The executive committee has also been reorganized, but I’ve had a hard time following just who was asked to fill which positions. Hopefully those changes will be posted on the website along with the meeting minutes. Reps from Layton, Tremonton, Orem, and Brigham City will all be part of the committee.

10:13AM Kane Loader of Midvale has been elected as the new chairman of the board. He replaces Alex Jensen of Layton.

10:12AM The meeting is getting underway now.

10:10AM Unsurprisingly, reps from Comcast, Qwest and the Utah Taxpayers Association are on-hand to see things unwind. Steve Oberbeck from the Salt Lake Tribune also came into the room.

10:01AM Looks like we’re starting a bit late today. I’ve already noticed that several of the board members have changed including the reps from Murray (who is now Jeff Dredge) and Centerville (who is now Blaine Lutz).