The Committee discussed Comcast’s proposal in response to the I-Net request. The current franchise requires that they construct and operate an I-Net for the Town to use which would connect the Town Hall, Police Station, Fire and Ambulance Department, Public Works Garage, Library and Schools. Doug Poulin submitted a request to Comcast to build the I-Net for connecting the six (6) municipal and school facilities. After waiting several weeks for a response, Comcast finally responded by stating that they were unable to build an I-NET, but was willing to provide such services through its business service group at its regular commercial rates at approximately $60 per month, for a total of $ 360 per month . As all these facilities have cable drops, the cost to install the system would be minimal to Comcast. Comcast proposed that it would perform all the work at Harvest Way ($7,000 to $8,000), without passing the costs on to the subscribers, as a way of offsetting the costs. Doug Poulin found the offer to be unsatisfactory as it is not “free” and the bandwidth is insufficient. The Committee agreed. It was decided that Doug would obtain some cost estimates from other private vendors to get a idea of the value of the I-NET. This amount could be used as the basis for determining an appropriate cash contribution from Comcast. Doug felt that the existing fiber network system would be better. The committee agreed that it was important not to couple the Harvest Way build-out with the I-Net as they are not comparable. Kate Miller reviewed for the committee, the steps the Town would take, if it filed a notice of non-compliance. Such a notice needs to be filed while the existing franchise is still current. Bernie Gordon expressed his frustration that Comcast has done nothing to address the C-Span and a la carte programming issues, and now has refused to come up with a reasonable solution for the I-Net. He suggested that the town reduce the term to three years. He wanted the committee to re-consider its previous vote for a five year term with a two year extension. As no one seconded his motion; it failed. The committee will offer a five-year term with a possible two year extension.
> class="Section1"
Committee Meeting with Comcast.
Discussion: Jay Somers joined the Committee for the second half of the meeting. With respect to Comcast’s recent offer, Doug Poulin reiterated that the cost of the Harvest Way build-out and the I-Net solution were not equivalent. The committee conveyed to Mr. Somers that the offer to provide their business services in a commercial setting, at no discount, was not an acceptable solution to the I-NET request. He stated that if the Town does not accept the proposal that it would be up to the attorneys to determine whether they were in non-compliance. The committee informed Mr. Somers that they will be obtaining some cost estimates from a private vendors to construct and maintain the I-NET which would be the basis for a counter proposal. Mr. Somers seemed amenable to that suggestion. The committee discussed the side letter. The upper management of Comcast would have to review the education connections for high speed internet and the senior citizen discount. Mr. Somers indicated that the language on C-Span in the digital tier by 2011 and a la carte programming are not acceptable. Comcast will only agree to providing it in the basic tier for the free cable services for the Town and the School.
Otherwise, Jay Somers said that the Town should not try to dictate the content of programming because they are operating in a competitive free market environment. Both Bernie and Ed challenged that assertion. Jay mentioned that Fairpoint was doing some initial testing of television programming in Portsmouth. Jay left the meeting and the committee continued to discuss his response of the side letter.
The committee also discussed other options for Bernard Gordon to pursue, such as contacting the C-Span board, the IRS Senate Tax Committee (Senator Charles Grassley), NATOA, or FCC and using the internet to create a group of like-minded individuals to lobby for change.
Action Items: The committee made the final changes to the side letter. Kate Miller will put the final touches on the side letter and latest draft renewal and send to Jay Somers.
Person responsible:
Deadline:
.
> class="Section2"
class="Section3"
class="Section4"
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be scheduled for Thursday, December 18 at 2:00 pm. in the Town Council chambers to review cost estimates to be obtained by Doug Poulin.
