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MEETIN REQ6"WEST -FOR COUNCIL ACTION DATI 10 -i-79 There appears to be a ,wide interest in cable cam. cation throughout the Twin Cities area. Currently all of the west suburbs and Vdmeapolis and St. . Paul are engaged in the franchising process to one degree or another. other cities in the area are at some, point in sting the issues involved, In June of this year the City of New Brighton .* nv10 ted Roseville to participate in a joint e f fort ' with the cities of Arden H ills, Mounds View, St. Anthony and Shoreview -to erne the issue of Cable Communication for this area. Roseville participated in this effort with the idea that there was a commability of interest among the cities and that joint discussion would be productive. Since that tine meetings with these cities have been held and the Posevi.11e staff has examined the franchising process. Following is a discussion of the franchising process and the activities of the cities and ethers to date. The first step, as requixed by the Minnesota Cable Cmmunication Board, is to establish a Garble Service ice Territo (CST). A CST is a proposed area that is to be served by a single cable comparry. A CST may be an entire city, a portion of a city or a group of cities. It mV be proposed by a city, a group of cities, or a cable company. tep two is foe' a' city to establish a local Cable Cmumications Advisory amnittee .Lhis ' ttee is responsible for research and planning concerning the actual franchise The end result of this activity should be a report to the Council (franchising authority) concerning the reeds- of pons in the City and a recammridation as to the mans to satisfy these needs.. . The committee way be made up - o f f ran 3 to 11 persons who are residents of the comnmity and who are not directly involved in the cable or conmioations industry. Eli gib le pegs cns include elected and appointed officials who reset the above criteria. At this point the third and final step would be for the City to begin the process which. 0 ends in the adoption of a franchise ordinance and contracting with a. cable conpany,, This step would include formal bidding, public hearings, - and notices to appropriate govemn-ental bodies . Discussions with the cities mentioned above have resulted in 'general agreemmt . that the area delineated by the cities would be an appropriate and economically viable unit to join together to establish a Cable Service Territory. Given this, it would also be worthwhile for the individual local co nittees required by the MDM to join tether in the research and planning concerning the actual franchise. In this way steps one and two of the process would be done jointly. The actual awarding of the franchise would be done individually, but it would be expected that the reccurmndation of the ccumittee would be to award the franchise to a single cable cmpany. During the course of these discussions the City received a cmmmication from Capitol City Cable in which they are proposing a Cable Service r.Verritory. Capitol City is a -wompany recently formed for the express pose of bidding on the St. Paul franchise .nis CST includes Roseville as well as m s t of the first ring suburbs of St. Paul, (see map) In proposing this CST Capital City Cable is corrpl eting step 1 of the process. Steps 2 and 3 would still be done as outlined above, seville would still be required