Harvard’s Board of Selectmen has approved a new 10-year licensing agreement with Charter Communications. Standards for residential cable service remain the same under the new agreement, but town buildings will gain a dedicated fiber optic network.
Contract is unrelated to merger
The new contract takes effect Sunday, Jan. 18, despite the uncertainty hanging over Charter’s long-term future in Harvard. Under the terms of a proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, Comcast would take over as Harvard’s cable provider. That merger, however, looked less certain at the end of 2014 than it had when it was announced early in the year, according to investment news services such as GigaOm and the Motley Fool. The merger requires approval from both the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Special Cable Counsel William H. Solomon, who dealt with Charter on behalf of the town, called the contract talks “a good negotiation.” One important point, he said, was that he was able to see four months’ worth of actual revenues that Charter received from Harvard, as well as get an estimate of Charter’s expected yearly revenue.
Town receives a percentage
Charter pays the town a percentage of its annual gross revenues in so-called PEG (public, educational, and government) Access Operating Support. Those funds go to provide equipment, training, and airtime for the local cable system, Harvard Cable Television (HCTV). Under the new agreement, PEG support will increase incrementally from 3.5 percent in 2015 to 4.5 percent in 2017. Charter will pay the amount to the town quarterly, rather than yearly as it has done in the past.
Charter will also provide $90,000 in capital support for HCTV within the next three months and another $50,000 by January 2019, the fourth anniversary of the contract.
Solomon told the selectmen that cable companies are increasing their revenues by raising prices, but they are also losing customers as people move away from premium packages and turn instead to streaming content from the Internet. For those reasons, he said, it was “fiscally prudent” to take the $90,000 up front and bank some of it as a rainy day fund.
Fiber optics for public buildings and a senior discount
Charter has also committed to setting up a dedicated fiber optic network to connect the cable studio at the Bromfield School, Town Hall, the Harvard Public Library, and the Public Safety Building. This network will be in place by Oct. 1, according to the contract.
Chris Boyle, director of technology for the town, explained that the schools already have a fiber optic network. The new network is an upgrade of the infrastructure among most other town buildings, he said.
According to the agreement summary, older residents and those who are handicapped are eligible for a 10-percent discount on basic cable service if they qualify financially. The discount is available to heads of household who are older than 65 or are handicapped and who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, Veterans’ Service benefits, or Harvard’s property tax abatement. The discount applies only to basic service, not to any other tiers or packages.
