Aggregate Cable Contracts in HOA

Not good idea. Individual choice is usually better. Unless everyone wants to pay for everyone cable bill.

I think that this is one of the issues where the board should get feedback from the membership. It's entirely possible that you're planning to spend a lot of money for something that a majority of owners don't want. This is particularly true in communities where a lot of the residents are seasonal.

This topic comes up periodically, and some regulars on this website have actual experience with these contracts. We've never done them in my community, but here's my opinion on them. (Disclaimer: I have 14+ years of experience in serving on condo boards, and I work for a new home builder.)

* These contracts are popular with developers and cable companies. You have to look at what they're getting out of them and whether or not these things best serve HOAs' interests.

* Cable is old technology. Technology changes regularly. The contracts will lock you into something that customers are increasingly uninterested in.

* Technological change is a risk to the companies that operate in this space. But they have the deep pockets to deal with this. The cable contracts shift some of these risks onto HOAs. HOAs do not have the deep pockets because they are not for-profit business and should not take on these risks unless there is a clear benefit to doing so. (IMHO, the benefit does not justify the risks for HOAs.)

* The cable companies also benefit by having a predictable stream of customers that they otherwise would have to compete for in the marketplace. This further lowers their costs of doing business. They also gain customers who would not have used their products otherwise (the HOA residents who don't want cable).

So... you have clear upside to the cable companies and I assume also to developers since these contracts are popular. There is questionable upside to homeowners and an unwanted cost to those are forced to buy something they wouldn't otherwise buy. I have a strong bias against HOAs providing "fun" for some residents at the expense of others. And to re-iterate, I don't believe non-profit corporations such as HOAs should be taking on the risks of a for-profit company unless they can make a business case for doing so. In general HOAs don't get the benefits in the form of huge buckets of cash for their shareholders, only another financial obligation. In other words, unless something unusual is going on, I don't believe the business case is there.

It's pretty clear where I stand on this, huh?

(Residents that are near large cities have scads of options for telecommunications. Here we can get internet/phone/streaming services through the phone company (fiber optics), the local cable company, and the various wireless carriers. These companies have to compete for customers, so they have to price their offering accordingly. We're spoiled for choice. Of course, in more rural areas this is not the case, so your community's location matters.)

We have had a bulk services agreement with the company I'm sure your dealing with (starts with C or their other name X) since our developer turnover almost 20 years ago. Our contract was up for renewal for another years this year, so we spent much time last year investigating our options. Our choices came down to the current company or go with one of the fiber companies (let's call the name of that company "Hot").

First, having a bulk agreement is very common here in Florida. And it saves everyone, except people who don't live in the community full-time, a lot of money. The cable channels are basically free - the per household cost is equivalent or less than you would pay for internet alone as an individual. I think that decision is a no-brainer. Remember, your monthly (or quarterly) assessments are going to go up significantly to cover the monthly cable charge, so the optics are not going to look good. You really need to communicate clearly what the costs are and why it increased the assessment.

Be careful to check your documents and you may want to check with your attorney - because adding cable to your community as a bulk service may be considered adding an amenity. And you may need a vote of the members to do that. We also have bulk security monitoring and are going to discontinue that contract. I had the attorney check to make sure we were allowed to discountinue it without a vote and we can.

Everything you have written is pretty standard for their contracts. We get HD cable service with about 200 channels, three boxes including cloud DVR service, 400 mbps internet included in our price. We also got the per door incentive.

The only issue is that you will be locked in for five years, so even if the technology changes you are out of luck. There is no negotiation with that company. We had our attorney look at the contract and make some changes that were favorable to us, and the company said take it or leave it. I was out-voted. I wanted to go with the fiber company because not only is their technology better (internet speed is higher and it's the same for uploads and downloads) but also their customer service is much better. Many people now stream everything and don't use their cable boxes. In our community survey, about a third of the people didn't use their boxes. But the good news is you can use an app and watch the cable service from anywhere, so you aren't really constrained to viewing only in your home.

Bottom line is you are never going to make everyone happy, but if you can prove that it will save the majority of people money they will be happy. Nothing really changes - the equipment usually stays the same and they just stop getting charged for what's included in the bulk contract. Most people will end up still having a bill because they have extra services.

If you have any specific questions about the whole process I will be happy to answer.