Politics & Government

Southwest City Councils Advance Cable Franchise Agreement

The agreement would close the Eden Prairie studio and could reduce public access content.

A new cable franchise agreement that would close the Eden Prairie studio and potentially limit public access programs is rolling through the relevant city councils—despite pushback from some of the groups that use the studio.

The five cities that are part of the Southwest Suburban Cable Commission are in the process of reviewing a 10-year agreement with Comcast. On Tuesday, signed off on the second reading of the agreement—the same day Edina and Eden Prairie both approved it. Meanwhile, Minnetonka and Richfield plan to grant final approval in August following initial review earlier this month.

But along the way, public access users have been urging officials to think again. , who produces a show called Democratic Visions at the studio, that the facility is cramped and difficult to use but that great things come from it. He added that the reason the studio is underutilized is because nobody knows about it. If it was better promoted, he said it could be educational and give a voice to many community groups.

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"I am very, very concerned about the removal of an access station here without having in place a provision for creating a new one," he said.

Under the old agreement, approved in 1997, cities received a 5 percent franchise fee from Comcast. At the same time, the company kept 25 cents per subscriber per month to run the Eden Prairie studio—a charge called a “public, education and government,” or “PEG,” fee.

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Under the new agreement, cities would still receive the 5 percent franchise fee. But now a 60-cent PEG fee will go directly to the cities instead of 25 cents going to Comcast.

"I'm still trying to figure out, why 60 cents?" Minnetonka Councilman James Hiller asked. "We are losing some things. Does this come close to the same cost as what we're losing?"

"It's probably not quite enough," answered Brian Grogan, an attorney who represents the cities in the Cable Commission. "We started at a higher number. Without revealing all the give and take, and some of it we agreed would be confidential between the parties, it was not at the high-water mark that we had hoped to achieve all the needs."

The compromise was within 20 percent of what they wanted, he said. 

The studio isn’t the only part of the current system that could see cuts. , Grogan predicted a transition away from public access programming toward a government-type channel that also has community information.

“The emphasis here, to be quite frank, is less about public access programming and more of a focus on giving the city the resources to do with these local channels what the City Council wants,” he said.

Peggy Kvam—a former Minnetonka City Council candidate and League of Women Voters member—pointed out that the league often puts programming on Channel 15. Currently, it is running a program on one of the ballot amendments.

"This will completely eliminate the public's ability to put programming on there when there is no studio," Kvam said.

 

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