05-10-2006 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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NSCC /NSAC Primer The North Suburban Cable Commission (NSCC) was established by the 10 member cities, with Roseville Mayor Tom Curley in the lead, in 1981 in order to have more bargaining power with the cable companies that had descended upon the Twin Cities suburban reas. The Commission's responsibility was to develop a request for proposals for cable service, evaluate the proposals and recommend a provider to the member cities. A 15 -year franchise, i.e., permission for a cable company to use the public rights -of -way to string coaxial cable for cable television services, was awarded in 1982 to Group W Cable. At that point, the Commission's task became to oversee the cable agreement and to make sure the company fulfilled its responsibilities. In return for using the public rights -of -way, the cable company agreed to pay a 5% fee to the member cities. Part of this fee funds the Commission. The remainder, according to the member cities' Joint Powers Agreement which created the Commission, is to be used by the cities for cable related activities, primarily programming their government access channels. For the franchise (which, by the way, is non - exclusive), the cable company also agreed to set aside a number of community access channels on the system and to provide facilities and equipment to produce television programs and training on how to use the facilities and equipment. The Commission became increasingly frustrated, however, with the company's efforts on behalf of community television, and Gus Hauser, who bought the company from Group W, wasn't interested in managing public access any longer. So, the two sides agreed to change the franchise agreement and negotiate a transfer of public access management to the Commission. In anticipation of that transfer, which actually took place in April 1991, the Commission established the North Surburban Access Corporation. NSAC is a non - profit corporation charged with managing the community access channels, equipment and facilities and with training people in the community in how to produce programs for the channels. NSAC is funded by an annual grant from the cable company. The grant represents the negotiated value of the company's original public access commitments in the cable franchise. The members of the Commission are appointed by the member cities. Each city has one delegate to the Commission. Some of the cities appoint city council members to serve, while others have chosen interested citizens. The commissioners also serve as the Board of Directors for the Access Corporation. Despite the fact that the governing bodies of both organizatons are composed of the same individuals, the Commission and the Access Corporation are operated