Molino: End of Time Warner, Comcast deal has no impact on city's franchise agreement negotiations
The collapse of a proposed merger of Time Warner Cable and Comcast will have little impact on the city's efforts to negotiate new cable franchise agreements with cable providers, said City Manager Jason Molino.
The proposed merger spurred the city this summer to revive efforts to update a long-expired franchise agreement with Time Warner and form a cable advisory board to help with the process.
In July, Molino told council members, "Time Warner is noncompliant with some franchise benefits. We haven't had negotiations since 1993. There are a number of improvements that need to be made."
This morning, Molino said the city is still negotiating with Time Warner, not with Comcast, so the fact that Comcast won't be taking over local service has no bearing on those negotiations, Molino said.
"It (the collapse of the deal) doesn't affect those negotiations and it doesn't affect the residents," Molino said.
At the same time, the city has been negotiating a franchise agreement with a new player in town, Empire Access.
Empire has already started delivery of a 100-megabit broadband service to local residents and businesses, but so far can't offer its TV package due to the lack of a franchise agreement with the city.
Asked how those negotiations were going, Molino simply replied, "We're in ongoing negotiations."
Asked now negotiations are going with Time Warner, Molino said, "We've been in negotiations the past few months. We are still trying to resolve some issues."
The old franchise agreement with Time Warner generates about $200,000 a year in revenue for the city.
Franchise agreements are non-exclusive, but are required for cable providers to deliver services to local residents.
"With both providers we're looking to capture the best franchise agreement that will provide the best service to the city and most success for residents," Molino said.
