Comcast, city forge agreement

The Spokane City Council is poised to adopt a new 12-year franchise for Comcast Cable on Monday that calls for changes in the operation and funding of noncommercial community programming and will add 19 cents a month to customer bills to help pay for the changes.

The franchise agreement would maintain the area’s eight public, educational and government-access channels, and would provide as much as $4 million over the life of the agreement to finance capital needs of those so-called “PEG” channels. A ninth channel could be added.

The agreement calls for installation of live broadcast capabilities at three community centers, the area’s fire training center, the city Police Academy and a new stand-alone community production facility. The cable link to the fire training center could be used to keep the community informed during an emergency.

Comcast high-speed Internet service would be provided for community use at 20 locations, including branch libraries.

For years, Spokane has led the way on local cable franchise issues, operating its own cable Channel 5 for City Council, Park Board and other informational programs. County commission meetings also are broadcast on Channel 5. Spokane Valley does not broadcast its City Council meetings on cable television, but it could under the system set up in the franchise, said Marlene Feist, public affairs officer for the city of Spokane.

Separate franchise agreements are expected by next September between Comcast and Spokane County and Spokane Valley.

Spokane viewers apparently are very familiar with cable’s menu of community programming. A survey conducted prior to franchise negotiations showed that nearly half the 400 subscribers interviewed indicated they watch community and government programming at least once a month.

Spokane Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers, the council liaison on the city’s Cable Advisory Board, said she was satisfied with the terms of the proposed franchise agreement. It was reached after nearly two years of work, including a public input process. “I think this has been a fair process,” she said this week.

Under federal law, the franchise cannot be used to control rates or regulate programming choices, although Comcast apparently responded to subscriber requests in recent years to carry ESPN-2 in its expanded basic service.

Cable bills currently include a 31-cent monthly charge for community programming. That would increase to 50 cents a month under the proposed franchise.

The $4 million being carved out for community, education and government programming would be limited to equipment and facilities, not operations. That leaves the city and community groups responsible for operating costs of public, educational and government channels.

Currently, a consortium of cable users through KSPS-TV and Spokane Falls Community College provides operations for channels 15 through 19, and that consortium would be eligible for a large share of the money called for in the proposed franchise.

Community access Channel 14 will continue to operate at Comcast facilities for one more year, after which time it would have to move to a new location and its users could likely have to become organized into a nonprofit operator, Feist said.

An eighth “PEG” channel is used for fire training.

In addition, the cable company has agreed to fix technical problems such as clearances on utility poles, protection of guy wires and electrical grounding, problems uncovered in a city audit of the previous 15-year franchise. Comcast agreed to remedy the problems by the end of 2006.

Feist said the length of the franchise agreement may be an advantage to the city since it preserves the city’s use of franchise fees for general city services, such as police and fire protection as well as securing the eight or nine community, education and government channels.

Comcast critics have complained that the franchise agreement does not extract sufficient concessions from Comcast.

Kevin Daymont, a former cable board member, said Comcast could have faced penalties for technical violations under the existing franchise.

A separate agreement with Comcast gives the city of Spokane $170,000, which can be used to pay for a consultant hired to help navigate federal communication law and negotiate the cable agreement.

Feist said city subscribers through a hearing, e-mails, focus groups and a survey said they want to keep rates as low as possible. As a result, the city did not press for larger payments because Comcast could simply pass along the charges to cable customers.

Comcast General Manager Kenneth Watts said in a prepared statement that the franchise “is a fair agreement that directly benefits the community.”

“The agreement provides the city and community with funding and flexibility for locally managed community access, including up to nine public, education and government channels,” he said. “The agreement continues basic and expanded cable service to city administrative buildings, fire stations, police stations, libraries, and state-accredited K-12 public and private schools.”