CCMIN112195 - Laserfiche WebLink

Transfer of cable television franchise from Viacom Cable to Tele-Communications. Inc. (TCI). (3R95:380) Chris Sherwood presented the staff report. Mr. Tarver declared the public hearing open on the transfer. Tom Baker, General Manager for Viacorn Cable, stated that there are two major issues. One is the rebuild timetable. In Pleasanton, the rebuild will begin in January when Livermore is completed and should be completed in the summer of 1996. The second issue is the PEG channel issue. The franchise is specific with regard to the addition of PEG channels. In the negotiations Viacorn has recognized that Channel 30 provides a very valuable community service but there have been times, like November 7th, when there were confficts (Pleasanton City Council meeting and coverage of the elections), so, TCI has agreed to add a second PEG channel outside of the requirements of the franchise. There have been discussions about a third PEG channel and TCI and Viacorn feel the addition of that channel should be governed by the franchise language which says that if the first two channels are utilized to a certain degree, that the third PEG channel will be added. He urged Council's support of franchise change to TCI. Mayor Tarver felt the need to have additional PEG access beyond the exact wording of " the franchise agreement. He hoped that Viacom and TCI will see value of allowing a third channel where two of the channels, public and educational, could be leased and the third channel could be individually focussed to the city which needs it and under its control. In addition, why December, 1997 versus the summer of 1996 to have the rebuild completed? It was not asking much for the franchisee to contribute to public access and to the community interest. Mr. Baker commented that after the discussions in the last month, that was why the second channel was added. He could not speak for TCI or its flexibility for the addition of a third channel. With regard to the completion date, he had discussions with TCI and it is willing to accelerate that date to the end of 1996. Ms. Michelotti stated Mr. Baker said there would be one additional channel and that if those two channels were utilized to the optimum, then a third channel would be considered. How soon could that be considered? Mr. Baker stated that franchise language specifically states that 50 % of the channel would have to be non-duplicated programming between the hours of 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. He would like to see the utilization of the second channel before committing to a third channel. Ms. Michelotfi asked for a timeline, how far out that would be considered. 11/21/95 -13-