The Town of Westford's previous Cable Franchise Renewal License, as negotiated for a 5-year term with Cablevision, was due to expire on April 8, 2003. However, before this date, the Westford BoS and local Comcast management agreed to amend the Renewal License to initially extend its term for another year (i.e., until April 7, 2004).
Near the beginning of 2004, Comcast redoubled its efforts to "speed up" the negotiation of a new long-term Renewal License, after making it clear that they would not extend the present License beyond 2004. The CAC apprised the Selectmen that Comcast then planned to discontinue "in-house" support for the Lyberty Way Studio and the current Westford I-Net (Institutional Network), and force the Town to find its own alternatives - otherwise current broadcasts on local Channel 8 would cease as of the end of the year. Even more worrisome, Comcast was also looking to "pass through" all costs related to future Local Access provisions (and I-Net alternatives) to Westford cable subscribers as rate increases. At that point, Comcast appeared unwilling to relent in these matters, in accordance with their nationwide
corporate stance regarding the elimination of in-house Local Access studios like the one at Lyberty Way, which has served the Town well for decades.
The Negotiation Subcommittee of the CAC worked diligently throughout the year to arrive at a suitable Renewal License. In this context, the CAC established a dialog with municipal "stakeholders" and Channel 8 producers relative to the critical Local Access issues at hand. This dialog culminated in the well-attended License Renewal Public Hearing held on February 26, 2004 at the J. V. Fletcher Library. The hearing participants included many local producers (e.g., Buffy from 'Buffy's Bits of Westford') and representatives of groups concerned with maintaining the status quo relative to our Local Access capabilities - even if a rate increase might result. A huge vote of confidence was expressed for Ron Zimmerman to continue as director of Local Access production if and when a Public Access Corporation or similar entity took over
management of the facilities.
Since no agreement was reached by April 7, 2004, when the previously amended License expired, a brief extension until July 7, 2004 was put in place to provide more time for negotiation. In the interim, the CAC drafted the Town's own "formal" License Proposal, which was officially submitted on behalf of the BoS as a rebuttal to Comcast's unacceptable version. After the last extension ran out, the BoS took the CAC's advice to officially Deny Comcast's License proposal, an action that could have led to a protracted and potentially costly legal battle upon Appeal, as has occurred in other municipalities in the state.
This circumstance was averted by intense informal negotiations that eventually won the Town many important concessions from Comcast in a new 10-year Renewal License signed by the BoS on December 15, 2004. The company's willingness to offer us better License "perks" was largely due to the intervention of Comcast Regional VP Stephen Hackley, a long-time Westford resident, whose office is in the Lyberty Way facility. Mr. Hackley went to bat for our Town with Comcast upper management to win us another full year at the Lyberty Way Studio, and a smooth transition to a new, well-funded Local Access arrangement beginning in 2006. Apart from a generous grant for new Studio equipment and operating expenses, the Town's current I-Net will be retrofitted with brand-new upstream video links. All Westford Public Schools will now be included in
the new network, and provisions have been made to provide a link to a new Studio, whose location will ostensibly be designated by the Town by the summer of 2005. The CAC is pleased that all of these new arrangements will result in very little increase to the cable bills of Westford Subscribers in the form of Franchise Fees, etc. |
