City Council Meeting Date: January 9, 2018
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Kurt Wolf, IT Manager
Title
Discussion of consideration for Authorizing Cable Access PEG Fee Increase and an extension of the existing Charter Spectrum cable franchise agreement
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council will discuss the authorization for a $ 0.25 increase to the PEG fees charged to subscribers of Charter Spectrum, which holds the current franchise contract with the City of Northfield. In addition, the Council will discuss extending the existing cable franchise agreement with Charter Spectrum until the end of the calendar year 2018.
Summary Report:
The City of Northfield proposes to increase the amount of PEG fees collected by Charter Spectrum and distributed quarterly to the City of Northfield in the amount of $.25 per subscriber. This is the maximum amount of increase in a one-year period. The City also proposes to extend the existing Charter Spectrum cable contract until the end of the calendar year 2018
Background Information
The current Charter Spectrum cable television contract, signed in February 2003, is a 15-year contract, and will expire on February 18, 2018. Staff proposes to ask for an extension of the current contract until the end of the calendar year 2018. During 2018, a new contract with Charter Spectrum will be written to reflect current technology needs. We have contracted with Brian Grogan, attorney for Moss and Barnett, for his expert guidance in writing a new contract with Charter Spectrum.
As a part of the existing contract with Charter Spectrum, we have the ability to increase the amount of fees collected by Charter for the City of Northfield by a maximum of $.25 per year, to a maximum of $1.25, to be used to support public, educational and government access (PEG). PEG fees are collected from every cable subscriber in Northfield. That amount collected per subscriber is currently $.75 per month. By increasing ...
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