Left In Lowell

The Cable TV Sub-Committee (CCs B. Martin (Chair); R. Mercier, A. Kazanjian and M. Lenzi) met this afternoon to review the new Comcast contract. It was approved unanimously, now it will be presented to the full City Council. I am not sure if it requires approval; I inferred from the comments made by Attorney David Fenton, who was representing the City Solicitor’s office, that it was not necessary but that was the wish of the CM Bernie Lynch.

The City’s negotiating team consisted of Attorney Fenton, the City Manager, the City’s CIO Miran Fernandez and Jack Hall who was the City’s Cable Coordinator in the past and volunteered his service for this round of contract negotiations.

The bulk of the discussion centered around competition among cable provider; the terms of this contract allows for competition. It seemed that the City would really like Verizon to come here and provide direct competition for cable television. I do not think that we as a community are on Verizon’s radar screen. Are they still trying to get that bill passed through the State House so that they do not have to negotiate with each community?

Back to our new contract with Comcast. It is for 5 years, beginning October 2008, with an option for 2 more years if direct competition comes in within the first 3 years.

As some of you may know, 5% of your cable bill is sent to the City for their use. Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) gets 2% and the City gets 3%.

LTC uses those funds to operate the facility on Market Street and provide Public Access television to the Community.

The City uses its portion to provide funding for Channel 22, the Lowell school’s cable television station, pay for the Municipal Programming (broadcasting all those meetings), and to pay for the costs absorbed by the City IT Department.

In addition to all that, Comcast will provide the City $120,000/year for capital improvement. The total sum of $600,000 for capital improvement is up from the $400,000 from the previous contract. Some of those funds will be applied to maintaining and upgrading the City’s Institutional Network (I-Net) which is used for purposes other than video broadcasting.

In the words of Attorney Fenton, the City “achieved a good contract in though climate in terms of negotiations…It was not easy but we got a good deal.”

Here is a 40 second clip (courtesy of LTC and blip.tv) of Attorney Fenton: