Boulder prepares to renovate Comcast franchise agreement

How to provide better service on the city's educational and government channels, make sure city residents get good cable service and manage technological changes are some of the concerns Boulder City Council members have as they prepare to renew Comcast's franchise agreement.

The non-exclusive franchise allows Comcast access to city rights-of-way and generates more than $1 million in revenue for the city's general fund, as well as $137,926 a year for Educational Channel 22 and Government Channel 8.

Comcast and city officials are working on a survey of customers in preparation for negotiating the franchise agreement, which is also constrained by federal law.

Council members raised concerns about the difficulty of navigating the channel guides, as well as concerns about how much energy the cable boxes use.

They also asked questions about how changing technology that is eroding the difference between cable television and Internet service might change what the community needs from Comcast.

Policy adviser Carl Castillo, who is working on the franchise renewal for the city, said the new agreement should include language that would comply with any federal regulatory changes that reflect those technological changes.

The issues that city officials have identified so far include the cost of various packages, notification of changes to channel lineups, enhancing public safety by addressing concerns about the 911 callback system, upgrading broadcast facilities in the council chambers and possibly raising the amount of money collected per customer to fund government and educational channels.

Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum asked how much use people get out of Educational Channel 22.

Director of Communications Patrick Von Keyserling said that because the Boulder Valley School District took over the channel last year, there have been no complaints, and the school district has invested in new equipment and new programming.

However, Castillo and Von Keyserling agreed that if the city wants more revenue for the public channels, some of which will come from customers, it should make sure the channels are providing a good value.

There will be a public hearing about the franchise renewal in the fall.