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SUPPLEMENTAL STAFF REPORT ON THE COMCAST FORMAL PROPOSAL FOR RENEWED FRANCHISES WITH THE NSCC MEMBER CITIES Introduction and Overview The purpose of this supplemental staff report is to provide the staff's analysis of the formal franchise renewal proposal and exhibits submitted by Comcast on December 20, 2013, and the extent to which the proposal meets the needs identified in the Staff Report and Request for Renewal Proposal (RFRP), which was issued by the North Suburban Communications Commission (NSCC) on July 29, 2013. Specifically, the supplemental staff report will address the top four issues for renewed franchises with the ten member cities: 1) the continued offering of the fiber-based Institutional Network (I-Net) which connects local government institutions within the ten member cities, including municipal facilities, Ramsey County facilities, and several schools (both K-12 and post-secondary) at no charge to the users; 2) funding for Public, Educational and Government (PEG) communications in the ten member cities, and channel capacity for transmission of the eight PEG channels in both SD and HD; 3) Comcast's past customer service performance and 4) two of the issues from the report prepared by Mr. Andrew Elson of E-Consulting Group (Exhibit 2 of the Comcast proposal). This Supplemental Staff Report should be considered with the other consultant's reports (CGB Communications, Front Range Consulting and The Buske Group). Attached as Exhibit 1 to this report is an initial comparison of the franchise agreement terms included in the RFRP to Comcast's Proposal. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I-Net Issues Since Comcast notified the NSCC member cities in October and November 2010 of its desire to renew the cable television franchises, the NSCC and its staff have been engaging in the renewal processes set out in federal law. The NSCC undertook an extensive assessment of our community's cable-related communications needs and interests (both from a subscriber and community user standpoint) and evaluated the company's performance under the current franchise. The Staff Report summarized these needs and identified key issues to be addressed in the renewed franchises. Those key issues — retention of the fiber and HFC based Institutional Network (I-Net) linking local government facilities and the community media center, CTV North Suburbs; retention of both operational and capital funding for community media; and retention