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Mounds View City Council October 23, 2000 Regular Meeting Page 7 Mayor Coughlin told Assistant to the Administrator Reed she did a masterful job of addressing his concerns and Council Member Stigney’s concerns. MOTION/SECOND: Coughlin/Stigney. To Approve the Revised 2000 Affirmative Action Plan as Presented. Council Member Stigney indicated Assistant to the Administrator Reed had done a very good job on the matter. Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. Council Member Marty was not present for the vote. C. Discussion of Cable Franchise Applications Coralee Wilson, Executive Director of North Suburban Communications Commission and CTV - 15 addressed the Council and told them CTV – 15 is entertaining applications for two new franchises for cable. Most of the cities in the metropolitan area are looking at either two or three applications from companies who want to provide cable television services. The incumbent in the Mounds View area is AT & T Broadband. The incumbent in the Minneapolis area and south is Time Warner. The two applicants for the new franchise are Wide Open West which is based in Colorado and Everest Connections which is based in St. Louis. Telecommunications companies wishing to use the public right of way need to obtain a franchise from the City which enables them to use the public right of way without having to get an easement from each property owner. Even though there is only one cable provider in the area there has always been a nonexclusive cable franchise agreement with the cable provider. The reason there has been only one up until this point is it was deemed by other companies not to be cost effective to have to run all the cables and set up systems in an area where there was already a cable provider only to have to share 50% of the subscribers or possibly less than 50%. The reason there are now companies willing to share the market is most telecommunications companies are now able to provide cable, high-speed internet access and telephone service to subscribers. Telecommunications companies have projected a possible sum of $150.00 per household for various subscriber fees. In 1984 Congress deregulated rates against the desires of local franchising authorities which allowed rates to climb. In 1992 Congress again regulated the rates but there was a sunset on regulation which ended last Fall. Consequently, rates increased. There are pros and cons to competition in the telecommunications field. The competition should stabilize prices. It may not lower the prices but it will keep the prices steady. The downside of competition is there will be construction in the right-of-way and more green cable boxes in the right-of-way. Some residence right-of-way areas may have a large green box depending on how the system is laid out. There