The report, still in draft form, found that Comcast met its legal requirements in Clark County despite a number of moves that local regulators found troubling.

Among the commission’s concerns:

• Customer complaints in 2007 climbed 40 percent from a year earlier, and in the first three months of 2008 complaints have already surpassed last year’s 12-month total. 
• Local viewers no longer receive Seattle-based KIRO news broadcasts, which are one of only a handful of available sources of Washington-specific TV reporting.
• Rates climbed for most tiers of service, and have continued to climb in 2008.
• The cable company has been slow to respond to telecommunication commission requests.
• Comcast has applied the Federal Communication Commission to completely deregulate cable rates in the county, and did so without informing local officials.

Once able to set rates and regulate programming, the telecommunication commission’s authority over Comcast has largely been stripped away over the past decade due to changes in federal communications laws.

The six-member appointed panel still tracks the cable company’s performance and oversees fees collected for local government, education and public access programming. It also regulates rates for the lowest tier of cable service.

Areas of success

Areas where Comcast has succeeded, according to the annual review:

• The cable company provides a network to government agencies, the Fort Vancouver Regional Library and area schools
• Comcast’s network grew by 71.9 miles in 2007, making cable an option for an additional 2,858 homes; 158,174 residences are now able to receive cable.
• Comcast has consistently rolled out new services, including new high-definition channels, phone service and On Demand.
• Service interruptions fell in 2007 to 33.2 per month, down from 36.5 in 2006.

The telecommunications commission, which oversees Comcast’s agreements with Clark County, Vancouver, Washougal and Camas, meets at 7 p.m. May 7 to approve its annual review.