WESTFIELD – The city’s negotiation with Comcast has hit a snag over two issues and that the negotiation process is being further complicated by major changes in the telecommunication landscape as programming providers move toward directly providing services to consumers.
The City is waiting for a response to its last offer to Comcast for a new cable service contract but recent movement in the telecommunication industry as programming entities, such as HBO, are planning to establish their own networks to directly serve consumers, may undermine the city’s last offer.
The negotiation initiated with the city offered Comcast a five-year contract, while Comcast wanted, at a minimum, an eight-year pact. The city then offered a seven-year deal, with the provision that Comcast maintain its service center on East Mountain Road, a condition which Comcast is reluctant to embrace.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said Friday that he plans to call a meeting with the city’s Cable Television Commission. Knapik is the designated license issuing authority, but relies on the commission, composed of residents with expertise in the telecommunication field, to provide advice, especially in the rapidly evolving telecommunication technology field.
“We may have to retool our offer,” Knapik said, “and go back to the five-year offer because a whole bunch of networks will be selling their own programming through broadband on the Internet which is upending cable companies.
“That’s been our position all along,” Knapik said, referring to changes in technology now available to consumers.
The City’s position on the term of the contract has been that telecommunication technology is evolving so rapidly that a shorter duration, five years, is in the city’s best interest, while Comcast has countered that it needs a longer term, closer to the 10-year duration of previous contract, to recoup its investment in the city.
The city is also seeking an increase in the number of local access channels. Currently there is only one, Channel 15, which limits locally produced programming.
The city is seeking to increase the number of local access channels to at least three. Comcast currently provides one combined PEG (Public Educational and Governmental) access channel at City Hall with limited “live” programming. That channel carries live broadcast of the City Council, School Committee and Planning Board.
The Cable Commission is also assessing the cost of establishing satellite studios, a community media center with PEG access which would be more accessible to residents than the studio at Westfield State College.
