Agenda Date: 09/16/14
Subject:
Title
An ordinance on second reading approving a cable television franchise agreement with CenturyLink
Body
Presented By:
Ken Fellman, City Attorney
POLICY QUESTION:
Does city council support approval of a cable television franchise agreement with CenturyLink?
BACKGROUND:
The city received a letter on April 7, 2014 from CenturyLink requesting negotiation of a competitive cable television franchise. In 2012, CenturyLink negotiated a model franchise agreement with the Colorado Communications and Utility Alliance to use as the basis for negotiations with member cities and counties to obtain a cable franchise. Since that time, staff has met with CenturyLink to discuss very minor modifications to the franchise specific to the City of Littleton.
At the August 26 study session, staff presented more specific information about the franchise provisions and comparisons between the existing Comcast franchise and the proposed CenturyLink franchise. As the second entrant in the market, CenturyLink will not have the same build-out requirements in its franchise as Comcast but CenturyLink has also agreed to a number of provisions beneficial to the city that are not part of Comcast's current franchise. City council has separately received a confidential memo from the city attorney addressing the legal issues in this matter. Council has also received a letter from Comcast expressing its concerns.
STAFF ANALYSIS:
The city is authorized to grant any number of non-exclusive franchises to construct and operate a cable television system in the city.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
In theory, competition could affect cable television prices. Some data suggests that prices go down when there is a second cable operator in a community. The city collects sales tax, franchise fees and PEG fees from Comcast and would do the same with CenturyLink. Satellite and online services such as Netflix, Dish Network, and Direct TV do not provide any re...
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