10/09/1978 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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. M I NUT E S EUGENE CITY COUNCIL e October 9, 1978 Regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller, October 9, 1978, 7:30 p.m., in the Council Chamber, with the following Councilors present: D. W. Hamel, Ray Bradley, Tom Williams, Eric Haws, Jack Delay, Scott Lieuallen, Brian Obie, and Betty Smith. I. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Cable TV Franchise Manager said Council's action for consideration would be to grant the Teleprompter Corporation a nonexclusive franchise for the operation of a cable communications system. The franchise has been the subject of a considerable amount of effort by the staff, City Attorney.s office, and Cable Commission. The Commission has unanimously recom- mended City Council adoption of the ordinance. Both Springfield and Lane County have approved the franchise. A cablegram had been received from Harold Horn, Executive Director of the Cable TV Information Center, a nonprofit organization whose major role is to assist cities in achieving reasonable negotiation contracts with cable TV companies. e The thrust of the telegram indicated Mr. Horn felt the City had achieved an excellent agreement, had protected the interests of the public. and that a 15-year franchise period was reasonable. Les Swanson, City Attorney, reviewed negotiations between Telepromp- ter and the Cable Commission. Agreements achieved were as follows: 1. Teleprompter agreed to rebuild its system. 2. Teleprompter will replace the 12-channel capacity with a 27- channel capacity with no rate increase. 3. Rebuilding will take place within three years, (by 1981), with a second tier providing an additional seven channels with no charge. Individuals may rent or buy converters for the second tier. 4. Within one year of completion of the second tier programming, the franchise calls for a complete review as to whether or not the converters should be mandatory and who should pay. 5. There will be a maximum of four public-access channels, 18 hours per day per channel for religious programming and Teleprompter will maintain its studios for origination of e 10/9/78 "'"