Lawrence Mayor Appoints Subcommittee to Negotiate New Cable TV Franchise Agreement with Comcast

Lawrence Township Council convened Tuesday night, Jan. 24, for a special hearing as part of Comcast’s application to renew its non-exclusive 15-year franchise agreement allowing it "to own, operate, extend, and maintain a cable television and cable communications system in the Township of Lawrence.”

The current agreement between the township and Comcast was approved in March 1997.

No formal action was taken on the application by the council Tuesday night.

An audio recording of the entire hearing and PDF copies of all the handouts distributed to the public can be found in the media box to the right.

After council members listened to presentations from Fred DeAndrea, director of government and regulatory affairs for Comcast, and Bryan Smith, chair of the township’s Cable and Telecommunications Advisory Committee, Mayor Jim Kownacki appointed a subcommittee consisting of himself, Smith, Councilman David Maffei, Township Manager Richard Krawczun and Michael Dean, technology coordinator for Lawrence Township Public Schools.

This subcommittee, it was explained, will review the recommendations of the Cable and Telecommunications Advisory Committee that Smith discussed in his presentation, as well as comments made by council members and the public at the hearing, and in turn negotiate a new agreement with Comcast representatives.

An ordinance, in draft form, that outlines the terms of that new agreement will be put together and reviewed by township council before it is sent to the state Board of Public Utilities. Once the state approves that draft, the ordinance will be returned to Lawrence Township Council for formal introduction and adoption.

Among the recommendations made by the Cable and Telecommunications Advisory Committee are that Comcast should provide a one-time $50,000 technology grant to the township and that the company should provide an additional local access channel for municipal programming, allowing the existing channel to be used solely by the school district instead of the current arrangement whereby the township administration and the school district share the one channel.

During the public comment segment of the hearing, Dogwood Drive resident Stephen Monfre encouraged the council to increase the amount of the performance bond Comcast will be required to carry. The 1997 agreement set the performance bond at $25,000.

Acknowledging he is both a member of the Cable and Telecommunications Advisory Committee and a board member of the Lawrence Historical Society, White Pine Circle resident James Williams urged council to see to it that cable service be provided to the with technology included that would make it possible for programs in the historic building to be broadcast live to township schools.

Councilman Maffei suggested the township work with Comcast to make it possible for events like local after-school dances to be broadcast live from different venues in the style of “American Bandstand.”

It was noted during the meeting that the franchise fee Comcast collects from its customers and, in turn, provides to Lawrence Township increased last August from 2 percent of standard video service charges to 3.5 percent (with an additional 0.5 percent going to the state) as a result of Verizon’s certification that it can provide television service to at least 60 percent of households in the township.

Verizon is not required to have a franchise agreement specifically with Lawrence Township because in 2006 the state Board of Public Utilities provided Verizon “systemwide” franchise permission covering much of the state.