Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> , , <br /> CITY OF ARDEN HILLS <br /> . MEMORANDUM <br /> DATE: June 25, 1998 <br /> TO: Mayor and City Council <br /> FROM: Brian Fritsinger, City Administrat@ <br /> SUBJECT: Negotiated Renewal Franchise with Meredith Cable <br /> Background <br /> As the Council is aware, the North Suburban Cable Commission ("Commission") has completed <br /> an over three-year process of negotiations with the cable company resulting in a proposed <br /> renewed cable franchise being recommended to the member cities of the Commission. <br /> The federal law proscribes the structure of the negotiations and limits the authority of the cities <br /> to deny the renewal. While the renewal is not automatic, the City may also not arbitrarily deny <br /> renewal. Basically, the City must renew the franchise unless the cable company fails to meet <br /> an identified community need, considcring the cost of meeting that need. <br /> Therefore, the Commission undertook an extensive community needs assessment which all cities <br /> . participated in and the results of which were reviewed over a year ago. Since then, extensive <br /> negotiations have been undertaken to arrive at a system which the Commission recommends does <br /> meet the identified community needs of the member cities, considering the cost of meeting those <br /> needs. <br /> Attached is a proposed franchise which incorporates the negotiations with the cable company. <br /> The attached franchise is recommended by the Commission for the member communities. Please <br /> note that the system is a ten (10) city system, and the franchises for all ten (10) cities are <br /> identical, except for individual city definition and notice sections. For consistency and <br /> enforcement purposes, the proposed franchise is in much the same form as the current franchise. <br /> There are, however, some significant changes which are highlighted below. <br /> Sil!nificant Agrccment Changes <br /> 1. "Cable Service" is defined as the state and federal law from time to time will define it. <br /> However, included in the definition, regardless of the federal law definition are <br /> Institutional Network services, which will no doubt include significant data transmission <br /> service. This will provide adequate flexibility for the document in an environment of <br /> ever changing kinds of cable services. <br /> . <br />