Last week, the city of Philadelphia signed a 15-year franchise renewal
agreement with Comcast. The agreement
allows Comcast to continue to use public rights-of-way to operate its cable
system in the city of brotherly love.
What does the city get in return?
Plenty!
- Franchise fee of 5% of Comcast’s gross revenue (>$17.5 million annually, expanded to include PEG and FCC fees)
- Public, Educational, and Government funding of $21.3M (from $8.2M)
- 11 PEG channels (including expansion of HD channels)
- Expanded PEG VOD capacity from 8-hours to 20-hours.
- $1M/year in complimentary services to municipal locations, schools, and libraries.
- Institutional Network ($10M in network construction costs not billed to the City)
- The expansion of Comcast's Internet Essentials program to include low-income seniors
- Discounts of at least 10 percent for low-income seniors on cable service;
- $500,000 grant to the city's Digital Inclusion Alliance Fund
Any problems for Comcast? Maybe one!
The city of Seattle, currently in contract talks with Comcast, wants the
same deal.
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