An Open Letter to the Co-op Community


Vote for a New Era in Community Communications!


We encourage you to vote FOR the sale of Cable Co-op's assets to AT&T Cable ("AT&T") and the use of some of the proceeds to support local programming and to help build a new community media center.  This  transaction can help make our community a national leader in local video and data services.

If you are a Cable Co-op member-subscriber, you should be receiving information about this transaction and your ballot card soon.  We encourage you to read this information carefully and to cast your vote in favor of this transaction.  We also encourage you to pass this message along to your friends to encourage them to vote in
favor of this transaction as well.

We support the sale of Cable Co-op's assets and the use of some of the proceeds to support local programming
for the following reasons:

    * AT&T will improve our telecommunications services.  AT&T will spend over $10 million to upgrade Cable
Co-op's existing plant with new fiber optic cables, making a wide range of new communications services available to subscribers.  AT&T will be able to offer many more video channels, digital programming, and high-speed cable Internet service.  This upgrade should also improve system reliability.

    * AT&T will donate $17 million to help us build a new, state-of-the-art community media center.  We believe
that our community should have access to digital cameras, advanced editing equipment, computers, Web servers, and classrooms to produce dynamic local programming.  AT&T will provide a channel for community programming, which can offer local news, sporting events, healthcare information, library programs, classes, and much, much more.

    * AT&T will provide video and data communications services to local schools throughout Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, and Stanford.  This will help students throughout our community improve their education by gaining better access to the Internet and better means of communicating with their teachers and one another.

    * Cable Co-op's member-subscribers will receive approximately $2.8 million as patronage dividends.

    * Cable Co-op's employees will be treated fairly.  Most will be offered jobs with AT&T, probably with better wages and better benefits.  Plus Cable Co-op's employees will receive bonuses for staying through some pretty difficult times.

    * Cable Co-op will be able to pay off its debts and other obligations.

You can get more information about this transaction from the following Web sites:

http://www.service.com/PAW/morgue/cover/1999_Aug_25.COVER25.html
http://www.cableco-op.com
http://www.kenallen.org/cabletransaction

By approving this transaction with AT&T, we can get our community back on a par with the best connected communities in the U.S.  Plus, AT&T's $17 million donation gives us the chance to create a stable, well-financed community media center.

Please take a few minutes to vote.  We need a strong turnout to show that there is broad community support for this transaction.  If the members approve the transaction, the City of Palo Alto will negotiate with AT&T for a new or amended franchise.

If the transaction is not approved by the members, Cable Co-op will have little time to come up with an alternative transaction before its loans come due in 2000.  We do not believe that Cable Co-op would be able to obtain better terms for the sale of its assets if it were forced to sell quickly.

If you support this transaction, please add your name to the list below, and please pass this message on to your friends in Cable Co-op's service territory - Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and Stanford.  Please encourage your friends to support this transaction.

AND PLEASE VOTE!

Ken Allen
Seth Fearey
Roland Finston
John Kelley
Jim Kaubisch
Mark Rogowsky
Bob Smith