09/09/1985 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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. .- M E M 0 RAN 0 U M e September 9, 1985 .... TO: Eugene City Council FROM: Randy Kolb, Information Services Director SUBJECT: CABLE TELEVISION FRANCHISE REVISIONS As required by the existing cable TV franchise with Group W, the Metropolitan Cable Television Commission has concluded its triannual review of the franchise. This review included extensive Commission review, public hearings, and negotiations between the Commission's legal staff and that of Group W. Both Lane County and the City of Springfield have reviewed and approved the new franchise. The triannual review was made more complicated by the newly ~dopted 1984 Federal Communications Policy Act. Under this Act, local government lost many of the traditional areas of regulation, including rate making, regulation of programming and termination/renewal of existing franchises. Another factor that compounded the negotiations was that this review was the first time Group e W Cable Inc. headquarters analyzed the Metro area franchise which they acquired from Teleprompter. The major changes accomplished the goals set by the Commission: 1. Clarification ~hat 'basic service' includes 21 channels of programming and not just the programs on the traditional 12-channel dial. 2. An increase in the franchise fee from 3 percent to 5 percent of gross revenues. 3. Deregulation of rates and programming (except for broad categories of programming). 4. Local acceptance of the obligation to operate the access facility and finance it subject to buaget committee approval of appropriations. Virtually all of the other changes were related to clarifying problems that have arisen because of the Federal Act or-efforts to simplify the cable company.s operation as a means of avoiding ra~e increases. These include allowing the cable company to sell its services in one-month blocks and not have to prorate the service for parts of a month, increasing the population density factor before the operator is required to ex~end service, allowing the operator to charge subscribers if they negligently or intentionally damage cable equipment and, when customers approve. to sell its customer list. .