BLAINE, Minn. – (March 12, 2015) – In many cities there is one option for residents looking for cable television service. Providers enter into a contract or franchise with a city or group of cities in order to provide service to a community. In turn the provider is granted access to the public right of way to build the system to deliver their services.
These agreements are not exclusive but the need to have that system of wires and technology in place is one of the reasons that there is not much competition amongst providers. “The main reason why you don’t see more competitive franchises in the area is that every cable operator that wants to provide cable service to the residents has to have their own facilities in the public right of way. There is no sharing of the wires” said attorney Michael Bradley, who specializes in cable franchise law.
The system build out cost is very high and has been a hurdle to high for two companies that previously attempted to bring cable competition to the north metro. “Both of those applications were ultimately withdrawn because they lost funding” said Bradley.
Recently the North Metro Telecommunications Commission which represents the cities of Blaine, Centerville, Circle Pines, Ham Lake, Lexington, Lino Lakes and Spring Lake Park was notified by a major company that they plan to seek a franchise agreement in the area. “CenturyLink in the summer announced plans to provide gigabit Internet service throughout the Twin Cities area. Shortly after they did then they started to approach cities about getting a cable franchise” said Bradley.
Now that CenturyLink has officially submitted an application for a franchise a process that is outlined in state law has been put into motion. North Metro Telecommunications Commission Vice-Chair Matt Percy said, “We get the initial information from them, we have a chance to ask questions of that company. Then we also have a public hearing.” That public hearing was held in February. Bradley went on to say that “the commission staff will prepare a report making a recommendation to the commission whether or not to move forward with a cable franchise with CenturyLink.
For Percy one of his main goals in reviewing this application is determining what advantages this could give the consumer. “I’m really interested in, is the consumer going to be getting something that’s faster, that’s superior to any other options that they might have at this time.”
Both Bradley and Percy outlined what any potential competition in the market could mean. “I think CenturyLink and Comcast both indicate that competition is good. It makes both entities maybe work harder for their customers” said Bradley.
Percy concluded “You are going to have two companies that are going to be trying very very hard to win over people.”
The commission is expected to act on the CenturyLink application in April. If approved CenturyLink has indicated that they will start rolling out service this summer.
