It's not news that the high-speed network iProvo is losing money at, well, a high speed.

"No matter how many times the city tries to move the goalposts for what success means or how many subscribers iProvo needs, it can't get away from the fact that iProvo is a dismal financial failure by any standard," said Steven Titch, a policy analyst with the Reason Foundation.

The Los Angeles-based foundation isn't new to the iProvo scene, having released a blistering report in 2006 that the city largely discounted. Reason, which advocates corporate solutions over government efforts, released an updated report on Wednesday. The report stated that iProvo is $10 million in the hole.

While Mayor Lewis Billings and others said in 2006 that it was too early to judge the young system's financial performance, their tone has changed in the past several months as they search for ways to change the monetary slide.

On Wednesday, the Mayor's Office disputed the updated report as well, including the $10 million figure, indicating that the correct number is $9.5 million.

The Mayor's Office specifically targeted the allegation that iProvo was seeing a harmful amount of "churn" in which customers would pick up the service but then later drop it. The number is high until "voluntary" churn is taken into account, namely BYU students moving in and out. After that is accounted for, the numbers show a churn rate directly in line with the likes of Time Warner and DIRECTV.

"The report is flawed throughout," said Provo spokeswoman Helen Anderson.

Several draft reports from consultants are expected today from the city, and the mayor will be outlining options next week.

The city has thus far refused to release details of its plan, saying it is a complicated process. But something will have to change as the budget season is here, and council members will need some sort of guidance in a year when revenues are off across the state.

There are multiple reasons the city has been losing money on iProvo:

• The system was supposed to break even when it reached 10,000 customers, which it did late last year. But the balance has tipped toward the more cheaply connected apartments and away from the more expensive connections of businesses. That means less revenue than expected for that number of subscribers. The city's projections were also based on the idea that 75 percent of customers would sign up for the so-called "triple play" that includes TV, phone and Internet. The actual number is closer to 17 percent.

• The city hasn't been paying fully for its use of the system. If Provo were using a commercial provider, it would be paying for the connection. But it hasn't been transferring the money into iProvo as it uses it, though that was used as a selling point when the system was proposed.

• The service providers iProvo has used have struggled. The first provider, HomeNet, went bankrupt, and the current providers, Mstar and Nuvont, have allegedly been unable to keep up with their payments to the city. That point is being investigated by the state Auditor's Office.

Titch of the Reason Foundation sees one solution.

"Provo now faces the dilemma of continuing to fund iProvo with no break-even point in sight, or sell the property and recoup as much of its investment as it can," he wrote in the report.

City Councilman George Stewart agrees with the concept, "as long as you could come out reasonably whole."

"Why not?" he said. "Why wouldn't we as long as the rates [for customers] stay competitive?"