Loveland renews Comcast cable franchise through 2036

The Loveland City Council on June 16 took final action on Ordinance No. 6838, renewing Comcast’s non-exclusive cable franchise for another 10 years. The agreement takes effect July 1 and runs through June 30, 2036, allowing Comcast to continue using city rights-of-way while keeping the franchise aligned with Loveland’s customer-service standards.

The June 16 action came as part of the consent agenda, though the meeting record is inconsistent on the vote tally for that agenda. A roll call in the meeting recorded the consent agenda as passing 7-1, while agenda materials list Item 4.4 as adopted on consent 8-0. Council had previously approved the ordinance on first reading June 2 by a 9-0 vote.

The renewed agreement keeps Comcast’s franchise fee at 5% of gross revenues, continuing revenue to the city’s General Fund. It also changes the public, educational and governmental access, or PEG, capital fee from a per-residential-subscriber charge to up to 0.75% of gross revenues, a revision city staff said was meant to stabilize PEG revenue after the previous formula produced a marked, consistent decline over the past six years.

Staff said the agreement preserves several provisions the city considered important in the renewal, including customer-service standards adopted by Loveland in 2016. Those standards require around-the-clock access for service, repair and billing inquiries, set response-time benchmarks for calls and outages, and establish appointment and complaint-record requirements.

Other negotiated changes include a higher cap on Comcast’s reimbursement of city audit costs when franchise fees are underpaid by 5% or more, increasing from $3,000 to $7,500 per year of the audit period. The agreement also shortens the deadline for quarterly payments to the city from 45 days to 30 days after the end of each quarter.

Under the franchise terms, Comcast must provide a cable system with at least 110 channels of digital video programming to subscribers. The agreement also continues PEG channel and return-line support for the city and Thompson School District, with the PEG fund restricted to capital purchases related to government and education access broadcasts.