Condo Association Management Blog

Yes, your corporation obviously has elected to participate in a "bulk cable" arrangement with the service provider. The cable company will offer a discount for each unit at the property, provided ALL units participate, with no exception. 
 
So, at some point, either when the declarant(builder) was still the "board" or after administration was transferred to a board of owners, the agreement was made. Contracts are usually 2 to 5 years long. You won't find it in the declaration, as builders prepare and file declarations long before a project even starts to sell. 
 
There must have been a vote at an annual general meeting, as entering into a bulk cable arrangement is not something that a board can do without consulting the membership.  
 
Therefore, consult the meeting minutes of past annual meetings, you will find that the resolution passed at some point in the past. 
 
The fact that the corporation has a bulk cable arrangement should (and most likely WAS) disclosed to you when you were considering the purchase. You can not withhold these fees. The only thing you can do is argue that the total cable bill should not be applied to units on a percent-share basis. It wouldn't make sense for you to pay more for cable just because you have a bigger unit. 

Former manager has it exactly correct.

I like the idea of bulk savings but I dislike the cable provider. It may not appear to be fair to seasonal users--but it's for the overall good of the whole community. Sometimes, we have to go along to get along.  
Jimmie Knock

I don;t remember it coming up at one of our board meetings

Our condo bylaws indicate that the association quarterly fees include cable tv...yet without voting or changing the bylaws/condo docs the former president arranged for a bulk rate 4 year contract with another cable provider. We were all charged $200 for the box and that only includes basic cable, we have to pay for whatever else we want. He has since put his condo up for sale and is living elsewhere and, after digging, we have discovered that the $200 for each box was divided $100 for his pocket, and $100 for the guy who installed the boxes times 130 apts is a lot of money. And this my friends is what you get when people who are retired dont want to bother watching what is going on. They pay their maintenance and look the other way.

Right now we are paying $140 for cable TV, Internet, & Phone. 
 
No special channels. Paying $300 for the Association fees. (P/M).. 
 
together we pay $440 p/m. If Cable company charges us less & bring the price down, why not?  
 
But what happens to the people who want to only have Satellite?  
 
They don't want Cable with such high price. There should be some control over the cable company, they keep raising the price all the time.

Yes former manager is correct. Comcast are the main providers in Florida, I am currently undertaking a review of Comcast's Bulk Service contracts which run from 5-10years.  
 
They vary from Association to Association and appear to depend on the negotiating skills of the Board e.g. substantial renewal incentives are available but not always offered unless requested, free boxes are offered. major factor in determining the rate is the proportion of seasonal residents, why pay for service that is nor used? 
 
In my view there is a need for Associations to get together and the agree basic terms with Comcast

'Interested' has highlighted some important points. I am looking into this as my HOA entered into a 10 yr agreement and has ended up paying more that a similar group of subcribers who deal direct, because 75% of residents snowbirds and cannot take advantage of the 'vacation rate' of $6.75/month. 
 
The HOA received a substantial renewal incentive and owners were given free boxes, but this does not cover the substantial additional cost payable by snowbirds over the next 10 yrs. 
 
Would like to exchange views with interested and others about this.