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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Clayton Muhammad, Chief Communications Officer
DATE: September 16, 2021
SUBJECT:
Renewal of the City's cable television franchise agreement with Comcast.
PURPOSE:
To grant Comcast non-exclusive cable television franchise agreement within the City for an additional 10 years.
BACKGROUND:
The regulations and guidelines regarding municipal cable television franchises are primarily governed by the Cable Communications and Policy Act of 1984 (the Cable Act) and the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (the 1992 Cable Act). Certain tenants of the Illinois Municipal Code, our Code of Ordinances, the Illinois Cable and Video Customer Protection Law and FCC Technical Standards are also applicable to the proposed franchise agreement.
The proposed franchise agreement governs video services only and conforms to all federal, state and locally prescribed standards for customer service, technical performance, public right-of-way usage, Public Educational-and-Governmental (PEG) capacity, and financial obligations.
By and large, the contract remains consistent with previous agreements, with minor revisions to reflect changes in language and procedures over the past decade. The most recent franchise between the City and Comcast was approved by the City Council on April 26, 2011 as Ordinance O11-016 and became effective June 24, 2011.
DISCUSSION:
Comcast timely notified the City of its desire to renew its franchise with the City and the Law Department and Comcast worked together to prepare the attached agreement with input from the Mayor's Office and the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs. The attached agreement is the result of the negotiation process.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Approval of this Ordinance will grant Comcast a franchise to operate a cable system within the City for an additional ten years. As noted before, this is a non-exclusive franchise agreement.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the City Council appro...
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