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Program of Excellence

IMCC Program of Excellence

The Program of Excellence (POE) has three components, as follows:

  1. The Standards of Excellence
  2. The Provider Data and Dissemination
  3. The Training and Certification

The Standards of Excellence component has three objectives, as follows:

  1. The POE is designed to outline performance Standards for Private Cable Operators (PCO) to satisfy their clients and customers. The PCO's clients are the multifamily owners with which it contracts and the PCO's customers are the residents living in its client's multifamily communities.
  2. The POE is designed to strengthen the image, products and services of the private cable industry to multifamily owners by its widespread use in contract negotiations.
  3. The POE Standards will be enforced on an industry basis by the free market and on a per company basis through good faith contract negotiations addressing the POE issues.

The POE Standards will only be meaningful if they are significant and set PCOs apart from and above the competition. The Standards are not intended to be monolithic, absolute or applicable in every situation. The Standards are issues to be addressed by the parties in contract negotiations. They are intended to improve the PCO products and services in order to meet client and customer needs and, thereby, increase penetration in the MDU environment. To do so, the POE Standards will only accomplish the intended purposes if the parties address these issues, to their mutual satisfaction, so that the goals of the parties are accomplished and the contractual result meets the spirit of the POE.

The IMCC Board of Directors, comprised of PCOs, DBS providers, ISPs and MDU/REIT owners, encourages providers and users to address the following issues in all future contract negotiations:

There are five categories of Standards, as follows:

  • Customer Service Standards
  • MDU Service Standards
  • Technical Standards
  • Product Standards
  • Industry Standards

    1. Customer Service Standards:

    In contract negotiations, the parties will address, to their mutual satisfaction, the following issues:

    1. IMCC members subscribing to the POE will fully comply with all applicable Federal, State and local laws and the applicable regulations of the FCC and other regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over PCOs.
    2. The PCO provision of a call center and a toll free number for its customers and clients, the PCO provision of 24x7x365 emergency technical support and timely response - preferably within 24 hours - to all customer service calls. The parties will determine a mutually acceptable definition of emergency situation and response time.
    3. The PCO provision of semi-annual reports to its clients addressing call center activity and other matters agreed to by the parties.
    4. The PCO scheduling, to the reasonable satisfaction of the client and customer, of all service appointments.
    5. The PCO provision of monthly or periodic, professionally generated and accurate bills, as agreed to by the parties.
    6. The PCO provision to its customers and its clients of a minimum 30-day notice of product, price or service changes.
    7. The PCO conducting, on a schedule agreed to by the parties, of either a focus group or written customer satisfaction surveys with both residents and leasing associates at each community it serves. The PCO provision to its client of a written report of the results of the focus group or surveys including a plan of action to address resident and leasing associate concerns.

    2. MDU Service Standards:

    In contract negotiations, the parties will address, to their mutual satisfaction, the following issues:

    1. A description of specific service level standards that the PCO must meet.
    2. A description of the specific services that the PCO will offer.
    3. A specific term of service not longer than 10 years and without automatic extensions.
    4. A description of the marketing responsibilities of both the PCO and the client.
    5. A competitive clause that outlines the offerings of a PCO to include its products, pricing, and features to maintain a competitive advantage for its clients.
    6. A delineation of a process to resolve disputes.
    7. client at a mutually agreeable price upon the termination of the agreement.
    8. In the event the client expresses repeated dissatisfaction with the PCO and requests a memorandum of understanding, the PCO will develop the memorandum of understanding with the client to address all its client's concerns within an agreed upon time. The agreement will outline both the timing of response and a dispute resolution process.
    9. Provision by the PCO of a liaison that property management may call and who will, on no less than a monthly basis, call the property manager for his or her opinion on the PCO's products and services. At least once annually, the PCO will meet face to face with its client's senior management team.
    10. The PCO provision of marketing material and channel line-ups that will be displayed and distributed by property management and compliance with the marketing restrictions of its clients.
    11. The PCO will conduct an annual audit of its system at each community and will provide its clients with a written report of the results. This annual audit will include, among other performance measurements agreed to by the parties, testing for signal quality, signal strength and picture quality. The PCO will provide a plan of action to address any concerns found during such audit.
    12. The PCO provision of reports satisfactory to its clients with each revenue-sharing check.
    13. The PCO provision of notification for property management every time its representatives enters the multifamily community during regular business hours.
    14. The PCO provision of identification badges and wearing of clean and appropriate clothes by all PCO representatives when conducting business at client's multifamily communities.
    15. The PCO provision of bonding for its representatives who conduct business at its client's multifamily communities.
    16. The PCO provision of an e-mail address.

    3. Technical Standards:

    In contract negotiations, the parties will address, to their mutual satisfaction, the following issues:

    1. IMCC members subscribing to the POE will fully comply with all applicable Federal, State and local laws and the applicable regulations of the FCC and other regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over PCOs.
    2. Unless otherwise requested by or agreed to by the owner, newly built systems installed by a PCO will offer 750 MHz plant with two-way capability or ample bandwidth required to deliver the full complement of digitally compressed video services.
    3. Unless otherwise requested by or agreed to by the parties, the PCO will pre-wire each newly constructed property with the following standard: one cable TV outlet in each bedroom and living area utilizing a home-run wiring design (as opposed to a loop-thru system).

    4. Product Standards:

    In contract negotiations, the parties will address, to their mutual satisfaction, the following issues:

    1. A provision addressing the PCO's programming which will utilize both hybrid (?) analog and/or digital tiers as necessary to meet or exceed the programming benefits of the competing franchised provider in the area in which its communities are located.
    2. The PCO's programming will be customized to the specifications of each community as mutually agreed to by the parties.
    3. The PCO's programming will include a dedicated community channel, at the MDU owner's request.
    4. The PCO will provide a channel that includes a directory of programming, at the MDU owner's request.
    5. The PCO will provide a high-speed data Internet access solution within a reasonable period of time, if so desired by the MDU.

    5. PCO Industry Standards:

    In contract negotiations, the parties will address, to their mutual satisfaction, the following issues:

    A provision that the PCO will be a member of the IMCC, will comply with the Provider Data and Dissemination requirements of the POE and will demonstrate to its clients that its technicians and sales and service representatives are certified or are in the process of becoming certified by the IMCC.