Agenda Packets - 1997/10/06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Cable cornp4n Franchise� Renewal P oposäl At its August 1997 meeting,the North Suburban Cable Commission voted to :otnmend approval of the franchise renewal proposal from Meredith Cable to its member cities,Once the final franchise ordinance embodying the.roposal is drafted,It will be taken to the cities for their approval. The current franchises expire in November 1997. I Responding to the needs assessment conducted last year by the Cable Comn fission,the company has proposed to upgrade the current 450 MHz, 65-channel system to 750 MHz using hybrid fiber-coaxial cable architecture.The cumpa y plans ti offer 81 channels of analog video programming and reserve 200 MHz for additional video channels and digital services.In additio to enabli g the company to offer more programming services,the new system will provide cable subscribers with higher signal quality and more reliability. Assuming approval of the franchise by the cities,construction of th new sys m is expected to begin nett spring. Proposa Sum 'ry Subscriber System Upgrade Commitment to Community Television •glee subscriber system will be upgraded from the current 450 The company will continue to comply with existing agreements MHz,65 Channel system to a 750 MIIz system.Initially,the company will I regard g support for community television,Including: activate 550 MHz for 81 channels of analog video channels.The remaining *Agreeing to maintain the current number(12)of community Wiz will be reserved for additional video channels and digital services. access •fanners.Further the Cable Commission will retain control over the I will mean that the Cable Commission will be able to reclaim loaned entire Mhz of spectrum that currently equals one video channel.This will community channels from the company. becom very important when digital compression technology is introduced *Me system will be rebuilt using a hybrid fiber-coaxial cable becau .it will give tate Cable Commission/CIV control over whether to com- architecture.The fiber will initially be taken down to nodes of approximately press t e signal and by how much. 2,000 homes with a miniinutn 16 fiber count,but the nodes will be designed •Malntalning Its financial support of community television,which to be capable of migrating to 500 homes with a minimum four fiber count as include the operating grant for CIV North Suburbs,the annual$50,000 digital services are provided.The increased use of fiber,along with improve F..quip ent Replacement Grant,and the Scholarship Grant,which may now ments in the electronics in the system,will give subscribers more reliability be use) for student internships,The company also agreed to provide an and higher signal quality. additi' al$667,286 for equipment replacements over the 151car life of the *The system will no longer use"channel mapping"for the Basic (ranch•-,beginning with$40,000 in the first year and increasing by 1.5% programming services,so that all of the local VHF broadcast signals will be each y •r thereafter.This additional equipment funding will help defray the loatted"on channel"for all customers,regardless of whether they use a con- cost o replacing Van 1 and the DiTech switcher in Master Control and of vertex box ur nut.Pur example,if you have a cable-ready television and do makin: the transition to digital editing and playback equipment. not use a converter,WCCO-Channel 4 is located on channel 28 of the cable • system,The purpose for channel mapping is to avoid problems caused when Institutional Network the over-the-air broadcast signal leaks into the c able system.The use of fiber *The company will add to and improve electronic equipment on optics and the need fur fewer sigrral amplifiers makes channel mapping the exi ting coaxial institutional network to increase its performance and unnecessary, reliabi ty, •The company,vill interconnect this able system with other in addition,four fibers on the subscriber network will be commonly owned,adjacent systems in the metro area.This will enable pro- resew d for use by public institutions,including cities,schools,and libraries. gram sharing and other kinds of communication with other access facilities, *The company has also agreed to meet mutually acceptable tech- Oas the Ramsey/Washington Cable Commission(Suburban Community nical a d performance standards for the Institutional Network neis), *The company plans to begin design and"walkout"and to pull High Speed Data Transmission permits wlthing 90 days of the approval of the new franchise.The intent is to complete the project by November 30,2000,although they will aggressively •In addition to traditional video services,the system will be aapa• work to substantially complete construction by November 30,1999. hie of roviding high speed data services to business users. —Coralle Wilson