Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Comcast Franchise Negotiations begin for Northern Dakota County - 9/9/2012in coverage
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® Local programming will be a key focus
for the northern Dakota County franchise
agreement starting in 2015.
By LAURIE BLAKE - lblake @startribune.com
The city council meeting, the graduation
ceremony, the school board discussion, youth
sports: These and other community events
go out as television programs to the 22,000
Comcast cable customers in northern Dako-
ta County.
Preserving such local programming under
the next franchise agreement with Comcast is
a key goal for the Northern Dakota County Ca-
ble Commission, officials say. Preparing to have
a renewed franchise signed by 2015, the commis-
sion is gearing up for what could be two years
of negotiations.
"It's a big deal," said commission Chairman
George Tourville, Inver Grove Heights mayor.
The franchise agreement will set the fee
Comcast pays the cities and establish service
guidelines for possibly 15 years into the future.
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Under the current agreement,
the commission collects the
maximum franchise fees al-
lowed by federal law — 5 per-
cent of Comcast's gross reve-
nues on cable TV.
The commission has no
authority over what Comcast
charges customers, but it pro-
tects the public interest by se-
curing a fee, requiring local
programming and outlining
how Comcast must respond
to customer complaints, said
Brian Grogan, an attorney
with Moss Barnett who will
represent the cable commis-
sion in the negotiations.
"If the commission didn't
exist, there would not be any
opportunity for cities, school
districts or members of the
public to put out informa-
tion on their topics of inter-
est," he said.
The hardest part of protect-
ing the public interest in the
negotiations is "looking ahead
and trying to envision what
you will need in the future,"
said cable commission execu-
tive director Jodie Miller.
The contract is worth about
$20 million — about $1.35 mil-
lion a year — for the seven cit-
ies represented by the com-
L4�
mission: Inver Grove Heights,
Lilydale, Mendota, Mendota
Heights, South St. Paul, Sun-
fish Lake and West St. Paul.
The cities use the money to
televise city council meetings
and for other local program-
ming needs.
The current agreement al-
so provides a network link-
ing 13 institutions — schools,
cities, libraries — at 41 sites in
the seven communities.
The institutions paid for
the installation of the net-
work, but Comcast has not
charged for traffic or usage.
That has saved thousands of
dollars for the institutions, but
it may be something Comcast
wants to charge for in the next
agreement, Grogan said.
Comcast — the only cable
company in the area — must
have a franchise agreement
because it runs its cable along
the public rights of way.
"We are offering them the
right of way to be either on
poles or in the ground," Tour-'
ville said. "They are able to
sell the service along the
route." In return, Comcast
pays a franchise fee.
Eagan and Burnsville have
separate franchises with
Comcast, and each of their
franchises will expire in 2015
as well. Jointly, the two cities
last week advertised to hire a
consultant to review financial
records and report on wheth-
er Comcast correctly paid
past fees. Eagan has approx-
imately 15,595 residents who
are Comcast subscribers and
Burnsville about 13,750.
The ' Northern Dako-
ta County Cable Commis-
sion was formed by the sev-
en smaller cities in 1982. It
has a studio in Inver Grove
Heights, where it produces
local programs.
Dish Network and Direct
TV also offer television ser-
vice in the area, but they do
not carry local programming
and are not governed by the
cable commission.
"Local programming is
one of the backbones of ca-
ble TV," Tourville said. "Your
son is playing football or your
daughter is playing soccer and
you have it on TV for grand-
ma who can't get out."
The franchise negotiations
presume that Comcast will
end with a contract renewal,
but the talks are expected to
be lengthy.
"Comcast has become big-
ger and bigger, and they own
a lot of stuff and they are a
billion - dollar corporation,"
Tourville said. "They would
like to pay less and less, and
we would like them to pay
more and more."
Laurie Blake - 952. 746.3287