Loading...
IV.5. Resolution Supporting Local Cable Franchising Including Public, Educational and Governmental Access Channels; MornsonFebruary 18, 2020 Council Report 2020-012 Resolution Supporting Local Cable Franchising Including Public, Educational and Governmental Access Channels Proposed Action. Staff recommends that the Council approve the following motion: To Approve Resolution 2020- 007 Supporting Local Cable Franchising Including Public, Educational and Governmental Access Channels. Overview: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Third Report and Order (FCC 19- 80) in August of 2019. The Third Report and Order is a significant threat to the City’s current Cable Franchise Agreements. The City as part of the Southwest Cable Commission and many other Franchise Authorities have challenged the FCC Order in federal Court. The FCC has promised to issue another order which may allow cable providers to charge the City for the use of each PEG Channel. The cost could render the PEG channels no longer viable and would impact the City’s Communications Fund if the FCC takes the action they have promised. Staff feels the potential impact of the FCC’s actions warrant a Resolution expressing our opposition and plans to send a letter with the resolution to our congressional delegation. Supporting Information: Resolution 2020-007 Template Letter to Congressional Delegation ________________________________________ Mike Mornson City Manager CITY OF HOPKINS HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA RESOLUTION 2020-007 Supporting Local Cable Franchising Including Public, Educational and Governmental Access Channels WHEREAS, the City of Hopkins, Minnesota (“City”) streets and rights-of-way are public property, obtained and maintained by the City at significant expense to taxpayers; and WHEREAS, cable operators use the streets and rights-of-way for their cable systems to provide cable service to customers, but only after obtaining permission from the City to use this public property for this purpose through a cable franchise agreement; and WHEREAS, the City’s cable franchise agreements include important provisions to protect the community and its residents, including managing the cable systems under, over and in the streets to ensure minimal damage and disruption and to mandate that all City codes are followed; and WHEREAS, the City’s cable franchise agreements further require providers to repair the streets they harm and relocate facilities at their expense, if rights-of-way are rebuilt, straightened, widened, or otherwise improved in the public interest; and WHEREAS, the City’s cable franchise agreements prohibit redlining and ensure nondiscriminatory service and further establish customer service standards, protections, and enforcement mechanisms; and WHEREAS, the City’s cable franchise agreements require rental payments in the form of franchise fees to the City in return for the cable companies use of valuable public property for its cable system; and WHEREAS, the City’s cable franchise agreements require that the cable companies meet the community needs and interests by including non-financial franchise obligations, protected by Congress in the Cable Act since 1984, for services that include: • Public Education and Government (“PEG”) channels, including high-definition format; • Financial support for the capital expenses associated with the PEG channels; • Inclusion of PEG programming on an electronic programming guide service; • Complimentary connections to city and school buildings; • Carriage of local emergency alerts, which because they relate to local emergencies are typically not carried on the federal emergency alert system; and WHEREAS, on August 2, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission released a Third Report and Order (FCC 19-80) that allows cable companies to establish a market value for non- financial cable franchise obligations, including many of those listed above, and to deduct that amount from the franchise fees owed under the cable franchise agreements; and WHEREAS, the Third Report and Order also exempts cable companies from complying with certain local requirements applicable to non-cable services and equipment such as small cells and other wireless facilities, creating a regulatory advantage for cable companies over their competitors; and WHEREAS, the Third Report and Order undermines the City’s cable franchise agreements and rights-of-way management policies, proposes to subsidize commercial access to public property for private interests and removes longstanding community benefits, all of which harm our community and impact basic municipal services; and WHEREAS, the Third Report and Order threatens a future action that would redefine PEG channel capacity as a franchise fee, which will result in a choice between preserving PEG channels or accepting further reductions in franchise fees. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Hopkins hereby opposes the findings in the Third Report and Order and opposes any other infringement on cable franchise fees, PEG channels or the other provisions of the cable franchise agreements, including the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to allow cable companies to deduct the value of PEG channel capacity from their franchise fee payments; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be shared with our congressional delegation with a request that they communicate to the Federal Communications Commission their opposition to the proposed recharacterization of PEG channel capacity as a “franchise fee.” Adopted by the City Council of the City of Hopkins this 18th day of February, 2020. By:___________________________ Jason Gadd, Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ Amy Domeier, City Clerk February 18, 2020 ADDRESS Dear Senator/Representative: On behalf of the constituents we share, I write to request your continued leadership to protect the long- standing ability of local governments to manage public property and provide for local media through public, educational and governmental access channel (“PEG”) obligations in local cable franchise agreements. The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) recently issued an order1 that undermines this ability, and the FCC is now considering actions to further diminish these important local interests. The City of Hopkins (“City”) has issued cable franchises to two cable operators, Comcast Communications and CenturyLink. CenturyLink has notified the City that it is no longer interested in providing its cable television service known as Prism cable and is instead focused on reselling DIRECTV satellite service. This mean the City’s residents have one option for wireline cable service – Comcast. The FCC’s Order forces local governments to either accept lower franchise fees for the private use of public property or to waive the public protections that have been negotiated in cable franchise agreements for over 30 years. The FCC Order also imposes a sweeping preemption of local authority over cable operators’ use of the public rights-of-way. The City along with many other Minnesota cities and cities nationwide have challenged the FCC Order in federal court. Despite an ongoing legal challenge to the FCC Order, the FCC threatens to further undermine the goals of the Cable Act by finding that the “fair market value” of channel capacity provided for PEG must be deducted from franchise fee payments. Such a finding would further reduce - possibly to zero - the franchise fees cable operators pay to use public property and threatens to cut off local PEG channels. The local PEG channels carry City council meetings, school board meetings, local high school sports programming, parades, civic events and provide an outlet for local content from producers that target a diverse and often underserved segment of our population. Your leadership is needed in communicating to the FCC that the proposed re-characterization of PEG channel capacity as a “franchise fee” is contrary to the Cable Act and an unacceptable policy. Without the channel capacity to reach subscribers, Congress’s effort to protect, diverse, local media through PEG access provisions in local cable franchises would be meaningless. I also ask that you require that the FCC monitor the effects of its actions on PEG channels across the United States and report its findings to Congress before it takes any further actions on this issue. Sincerely, Jason Gadd, Mayor 1 Third Report and Order on Implementation of Section 621(a)(1) of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 as Amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 adopted on August 1, 2019.