Huntington Cable Advisory Board (L-R) Johanna Brackney, Robert Brackney -rear, Chris Saran and Town Counsel William Hewig, III at the July negotiations with Comcast. (WNG File Photo)
HUNTINGTON – The Cable Advisory Board met with Huntington Selectmen on Wednesday to continue discussion of the current 10-year contract proposal with Comcast. The town’s attorney in the negotiations, William Hewig, III of KP Law participated by telephone. The contract negotiations have been ongoing since 2014.
Hewig said in his last communication with Comcast, he had suggested rearranging the franchise fees over the ten years in a different order. Previously, the company had offered a graduated franchise fee to the town beginning with 2% of gross annual percentages in the first three years; 3% over the next four years, and 3.5% the last three years, for a total projected contribution of $194,000.
Hewig had suggested changing the order to 3%, 3.5% and 2%, to allow the town to raise $125,000 in the first five years in order to build out to the 17 homes not covered by the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s (MBI) agreement with Comcast for last mile connectivity, which covers 77 unserved homes. Comcast had previously given a cost of $131,000 to connect to the 17 remaining homes.
“Why don’t we just do 3% every year for ten years,” asked Johanna Brackney of the Cable Advisory Board. She said it would also bring in approximately $5,000 more overall.
Hewig said that Comcast had also mentioned in their last conversation that of the 17 homes, only 12 are cableable, although he wasn’t sure what that meant.
“Why they’re saying 12 homes are cableable when they gave us cost estimates on all 17, I don’t understand,” said Chris Saner of the Cable Advisory Board. Saner also said based on his revenue projections, the town could build out three sections in three years, one more in the fourth year, and the remainder in the fifth year. Hewig said that was a good counter proposal which he would bring back to the company.
Edward Renauld, chair of the Board of Selectmen, said two things stood out to him in the current proposal from Comcast. One was they were not promising anything in regard to the MBI buildout, something the town had been asking for since the beginning of the negotiations. “The other thing is that five years from now, it will be a totally different Board. We can’t spend (down the road). I don’t know who will be on the Board in five years,” Renauld said, adding that
Selectman Darlene McVeigh said the franchise fees could only be used for cable purposes, and there were no other cable purposes. Renauld said setting up a cable access channel has also been discussed.
“That’s something select boards always face when negotiating a 10-year license,” Hewig said about Renauld’s concern. He said the license is a contract, and it’s binding. “If in five or six years someone objects, they can always try to renegotiate,” he said. He also said that the company will not guarantee the MBI buildout, which is expected to be completed in August of 2018.
Hewig said that Comcast is willing to build out to the 17 residents as soon as the town can pay for it.
“They’ve agreed to build out outside of our agreement with population density,” McVeigh said.
“Yes, with us paying the full cost,” Saner added. He said Comcast could operate under the old license until MBI completes its buildout. He also spoke to an attorney in the field who said the town could hold Comcast accountable for the MBI buildout.
Hewig said he would ask Comcast why they had said only 12 of the 17 homes were able to be cabled, and also bring Saner’s proposal of a staggered buildout to all 17 homes. He also said he would speak to the attorney Saner mentioned.
“Thank you very much for going back to the table,” Saner said, adding that he recently saw a guy cabling a tree on his road.
