Speaker 5: Thank you, Madam President. I move the council bill series 2013 975 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I actually need a second, second, second. It has been moved and seconded. The public hearing for Council Bill 975 is open where we have the staff report. Mr. Zaki.
Speaker 3: Good evening, Madam President. Members of City Council, Darren Zaki, general manager of Denver Media Services. This represents an incredible effort by the city and Comcast over a three year period to get this franchise. John, I am satisfied that this is an acceptable compromise document for Comcast cable service for the next ten years, given that this is a deregulatory environment now where local franchising authorities no longer have the power that they used to. Even as recently as 1999, when we last negotiated this franchise, I would like to take a moment of personal privilege to thank the council members who were involved in the Franchise Renewal Group, Council President Susman, Council members Rob Ortega and Council. And of course also to David Broadwell, the assistant city attorney, to providing guidance and questions and directions that without that, this whole process would not be possible. So my personal thanks to all of you for this. A reminder as well to this is a nonexclusive franchise agreement, which sometimes is a point that is forgotten. Nothing in the Comcast franchise prevents the city from granting other franchises from other companies that are qualified to do this. So this is not a monopolistic document in its in itself. I would like to take just a couple of minutes to identify the high level provisions in that the franchise document is on our website on Denver gov for public consumption too. But I'll hit the high level ones primarily. We were looking at maintaining the services that we had under the existing franchise. I know it's not necessarily the best place to start, but with deregulation of the cable environment, that's where we really had to look at. Most importantly, I think is the maintenance and actually an improved language about rights of way compliance. Under the old franchise, Comcast had a set language of what they had to comply with. It was kind of a snapshot. So a city code change franchise quickly became out of date. Now the franchise points directly to Denver City Code for Rights of Way. So whenever the city chooses to change that, Comcast still has to stay in compliance to protect the public rights of way themselves. GROSS revenues definitions were maintained in a very broad definition. Why that is important is because the franchise fees, the compensation the city gets for the use of the public right of way for Comcast service is something that across the nation is becoming more and more narrow. The city was able to maintain the broader definition of that so that the revenues coming into the city will maintain a good level. And by way of example, in 2013, we're estimating that the fourth quarter payment still is due, should be approximately 6.3 to $6.4 million that comes into the general fund. Next is that was the city's big issue on Comcast side. The big issue was something called competitive equity. This is not something that was in the existing franchise. In short, it says that if city if and when the city does negotiate another franchise with another company, it can't cannot be competitively advantageous to that other company. If it if the cable company feels that it is, it has to demonstrate to the city why it is noncompetitive from Comcast standpoint. Then there can be negotiations and either the Comcast franchise will meet that language or their franchise goes directly into negotiations against it shortens the term on that auditing requirements and letter of credit requirements are the strongest now in the metro area, if not the entire state of Colorado. So that was something that actually Denver was able to maintain that I'm very proud of, too. It helps us protect residents needs if there are violations or underpayments from Comcast on. The last point that I'll bring up on that is regarding public education and government access channels of which Denver it is. One city will be getting three high definition channels. There will also be a video on demand presence or a presence of some of our videos on Comcast video on demand platform. And one of the ordinances tonight is that the franchise would allow for an increase in the peg fee to pay for all the equipment, the lights and the cameras and the microphones and so forth. For all of these entities, which is the city of Denver, it is Denver Public Schools and Denver Open Media. Last thing I want to bring up, just as a general thing before we get to the rest of the people, too, is where it gets frustrating for residents and for the city, too, is this document can only address cable television service. Unfortunately, it cannot address Internet service or telephone service provided by Comcast. Those are either non-regulated services or they. Are regulated by another level. So this is where it'd be nice if federal law could catch up to where we are in current 21st century technology so that these companies that provide multiple services, at least federal law, does address them. So unfortunately, the city and this document cannot address great regulation. It cannot address equipment fees. It cannot address if there are problems with those services. Comcast, through its escalations department, has cooperated with the city on multiple occasions, with the city, contacts them, even though it's a service that the city does not have jurisdiction. Comcast does engage the customer and try to reach resolution. So for that, they do deserve credit, even though, you know, they could tell the city that this isn't something that is in our purview. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that council may have.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Mr. Zaki. We have four speakers signed up and I'd like to ask all four to come to the front pew since there are four while the first speaker comes to the podium. And that is Jeff Dolan, Thad, Texar, Jeffrey Washington and Sekou. So, Mr. Dolan, you're up first.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Madam President, members of the City Council, it's a sincere pleasure for me to be here tonight, along with my colleague John Lehman, who helped negotiate this franchise with the city of Denver. You know, tonight is really the culmination of nearly three years, as Darren said, of franchise renewal negotiations. And that one of those things I never thought I'd get enough of. Until I until I got enough of it. So tonight, we're going to stick around through the public comments and answer any questions you might have later. But I did want to make just a few brief comments. So first of all, I'm deeply appreciative of the, you know, all the members of the city council for their leadership on this matter. You know, we're particularly thankful to the members of the franchise renewal group who provided so, so much guidance over the last couple of years to the city staff. And certainly we're appreciative to the city staff for their countless hours of work and focus on bringing this renewal to a successful conclusion. It has been a long process and I want to personally recognize and thank with with heartfelt thanks Darren Zaki for for his tireless efforts. David Broadwell who was at every one of those negotiation meetings over the last couple of years and Sky Stewart who over the last several months helped bring this too to the goal line here. So really appreciate the efforts of staff. And, you know, we, you know, having worked in government, I know they've got so many competing demands on their time. But even in the most intense of negotiation meetings, of which we had many over the last several years, they were always true professionals and really great representatives of the city. So our thanks go out to them. And, you know, the staff drove a hard but fair bargain. And I think Darren laid it out pretty nicely and laid out the pros and cons pretty nicely there. The new franchise really is a balanced and modernized agreement, taking into account, you know, sort of the modern technology that we have here and the competitive marketplace that we operate in. So the franchise, as Darren pointed out, provides the city with significant revenues over the ten year term. There's major enhancements to the Access Channel platform, and there's really important consumer protection provisions that will make sure that you all hold us accountable over these next ten years. But I think the franchise also reflects the dynamic and competitive communications marketplace that Comcast operates in every day with with every line of business that we're in. And the franchise gives us the certainty and the flexibility that we need to continue making the massive investment in our business that we need to do to stay competitive so that we can continue to innovate and offer more advanced products and an improved customer service. We recognize that we've got to get better at providing customer service to our constituents, and we're trying to do that every single day. So and we've gotten a lot of feedback and counsel from you all along the way, so we appreciate that. But, you know, most importantly, what we want to do is, you know, under this new franchise, we want to grow our business in Denver. We want to grow our presence in the community. And we look forward to working with you all to do that. So, you know, I think to close the negotiation process really was, you know, just truly a collaborative process with the city. It creates the foundation with this new franchise for an even stronger partnership.
Speaker 1: Your time is.
Speaker 3: Up. Okay. All right. Well, I just want to close with, you know, say thank you again for all the time and effort that the staff put into this and appreciate your time tonight.
Speaker 1: So thank you, Mr. Dolan. Thad, Texar.
Speaker 3: Thad, Texas 4535 Julian Street. I have no doubt that Comcast deserves a 5% customer increase in fees. Once again, though, council has found a more important use for money than meeting its commitment to the homeless. The problem is that nobody in the city is more deserving of our money than our homeless fellow citizens. And unlike the homeless, nobody at Comcast will freeze to death on our streets, in our alleys, or along our rivers if this increase isn't approved. You know, I never had the privilege of walking with Dr. King, but on several occasions I did have the privilege of walking behind him. A lot of us were behind him in both literally and figuratively. And, you know, I know that on this issue of homelessness and dedicating revenue for the homeless, where Dr. King would have stood and he would have been way ahead of me on this one, too, and he would have said, don't honor me with a resolution. Honor me by dedicating money to the citizens among you that need it the most. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Mr. Text, sir Jeffrey Washington.
Speaker 3: Good evening.
Speaker 5: Jeffrey Washington. I live in Denver.
Speaker 3: I opposed this. I mean, why do we need this and why is it for so long? I mean, we.
Speaker 7: We live in a country.
Speaker 5: Where the free market is promoted.
Speaker 3: This is absolutely against every principle of the free market. I mean.
Speaker 5: I understand you say Comcast is the only cable provider we have in Denver.
Speaker 3: But to grant them a franchise for ten years, I mean, death, to absolutely discredit any other company, maybe for wanting to come, come in and provide the service for one is too long. And I read in the some of the language of the proposal, if you're providing free cable to public schools and private schools and charter schools . Well, what if our home school, my children. Why can't I get free cable? I mean. I mean, why not?
Speaker 5: You know, I'm. I'm home schooling my my children at home. Why can't I get free cable to provide.
Speaker 3: Educational access for them? I just think this is a bad idea. If anything, the the term of the contract needs to be shortened because this is wrong.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Washington. Sekou.
Speaker 7: Matt. My name is Chairman Sekou of Organize and founder of the Black Star Action Movement advocacy group for poor, working, poor and homeless people. We support this agreement. It is not a perfect agreement and there are some areas that we are diametrically opposed to, especially when it comes to the utilization of us negotiating with items such as the Internet and phone service, because these are big ticket items, especially for poor, working, poor and homeless people. But we acknowledge the work that has been done by city council and that is not to be discounted or marginalized or minimized because the work that has to be done just to kind of pull all of this kind of stuff together. Now, one of the things is real clear to me is that the key to this agreement is going to be on enforcement. And we're going to have to monitor this thing with vigilance so that things don't fall through the cracks. And in the process, as things are evolving and we have the option to bring other companies in that are smaller. We must give that the same attention as we do the big folks, the big guys, the big corporations. So I think that this council has the wherewithal to make those kind of integrity decisions, to get those things done. And if you don't, you can be guaranteed back in the spirit of Martin Luther King. The people are watching you and they're watching what you do more so than what you say. But in this body, we've come to learn that this is all about the power of the pen. But this agreement means nothing if it's not enforced. And so we have the moral obligation to make sure that it does what it says and makes sure the council that is given all of the support he needs to make sure that he takes them to the test, taking it to court and making sure the city is victorious. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Mr. Sekou. That's the end of our speakers. So let's open the floor for questions from council. Councilwoman Shephard. Thank you, Madam Chair, that Mr. Washington made a good point. Typically, if one wants to access a public access channel, one has to have a subscription to such that you usually get in your home. So I'm just wondering if Jeff or John out there could talk to how the public may access educational programing, for example, if one doesn't have a subscription.
Speaker 3: Thanks, Councilwoman Sheperd. So there's a few things that we would do in that situation. You know, one of our really important community initiatives is a low cost broadband program called Internet Essential that provides broadband service for low income families for $9.99 a month. That's a program that a lot of you have been really helpful in getting the word out in the community. And this is a great forum to talk about it as well. To all of viewers at home and to the folks here in the building, you know, that's something, you know, if somebody would qualify, if they're on the free or reduced lunch program, they can contact us and apply for that program. And and that the power of the Internet and all the educational tools that come along with it. We'd love to sign them up for that program in terms of, you know, offering free cable service to the home school entities. It you know, that's administratively that's been a nut that we haven't been able to crack. We do offer free cable to public schools and charter schools, but just the number of home schooled folks, you know, administratively, it's really difficult for us to try to track. We haven't been able to do that yet, but we would encourage lower income folks to explore the Internet Essentials program to get the power and everything that the Internet brings in terms of educational tools into the home.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman Monteiro.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. I have a question about the location of the Comcast customer service site. I continue to hear complaints that people are not able to take their parks and other equipment back to the to the Comcast Location Center. So I wanted to ask you, what are your plans in terms of opening the center in Denver and what you're doing in the meantime? Yeah.
Speaker 3: Thanks for the question, Councilman Monteiro. So we did close the the old customer payment center that was over on Acoma back in March. It was, you know, it's a pretty industrial area. We didn't have large volumes of traffic there. And it's not the most desirable location for folks in terms of a retail experience. So, you know, we closed in March. We are actively looking for a new location for a cable store here in Denver. The City Department of Economic Development has been helpful in trying to find desirable sites that would work for our business for that . And so we've continue to work with them. We are actively looking at some other sites. Some of the members of the council have referred locations to us as well. So we're exploring those. We do intend to open a new cable store in the city of Denver. We recognize it's you know, it's the largest city in the state. And we'd be remiss to not have a retail location there. But we do want a retail location that is in a, you know, high traffic, high volume area that has, you know, good retail partners. And that is not a, you know, in sort of an industrial area that is a is a difficult place for folks to go, especially if they're taking public transportation. So we're looking for the appropriate site. And I'd say for folks who, you know, want to send us equipment, we do have a program where we will send them a self paid mailer envelope to their home so that they can easily and efficiently send us back equipment. So that's a program that we've got going on right now here in Denver. So that's one way we're trying to take care of those folks. But there's also, you know, we have launched a huge variety of self-help tools online. So there's really there's there's nothing that a customer can't do in terms of interacting with us online. I mean, there's there's a host of different things, different online tools and self-help tools and mobile apps and things like that that allow people to very easily and efficiently interact with us, whether they're trying to pay a bill or return equipment or, you know, look at their bill statement. There's there's a lot of online tools that are really, really helpful. So and we're seeing the usage of those online tools go way, way up.
Speaker 4: Madam Chair, when we're clear, go right in. What about people with disabilities? Will Comcast come in, pick up the equipment?
Speaker 3: We will. And in fact, I think that's an explicit obligation in our and either the franchise or the customer service standards that she'll be voting on tonight as well, that if a customer has disabilities and special needs, we will go to their home, pick up that equipment and no cost to them.
Speaker 4: And is there a customer service number that you can share?
Speaker 3: One 800 Comcast. That's an easy one, right? Thank you. You bet.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilwoman Councilwoman Ortega.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I have a couple of questions. And the first one I think should either be Darren or maybe Jeff, to answer this question, can you highlight what the changes are in the customer service standards from what has existed in the current franchise that we're operating under today?
Speaker 3: Yes. Councilwoman Darren Zaki, Denver Media Services. The customer service standards that you will be voting on tonight, Ashleigh, are updates. To tell you the truth, a lot of that is is very similar in terms of how quick Comcast has to set an appointment for new service, you know, how it treats the yard and so forth. The things that are different actually have to do with data about the customer. There are a lot more customer protections, such as, you know, if Comcast collects some data for people, how quickly they have to use it and destroyed it cannot be used for any purposes other than their own. And then how quickly they have how quickly excuse me, how much they what measures they do to protect that data. And then again, as I said, how to destroy that. Those are the.
Speaker 6: Sites data in terms of usually like a company will give you a two hour window or something like that. If you're scheduling an appointment, can you just speak to whether there were changes to that aspect?
Speaker 3: If there were not changes, there's still a four hour window unless the cable company and the subscriber agree to a different time. Generally, they're between the hours of, I believe it's 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., unless again, there are agreements to that. So a lot of those provisions are the same, but it's it's meant to. And that seven days a week, it also talks about even though we don't have a payment center here in Denver, it does talk about what hours of payment centers are. Most of that is the same provisions of what currently are in Denver's customer service standards. I think we had a pretty good jump on that when we first implemented these back in, I believe was 1998.
Speaker 6: So I have a different question for you, Darren. Somebody from the audience asked about the revenue that we get from the franchise agreement, and the suggestion was we should be spending it on the homeless. Can you talk about what kind of restrictions or provisions there are for how the money that we receive from the franchise agreement is generally spent?
Speaker 3: Certainly. And I'll go ahead and differentiate between the franchise fees and the PEG fees. So franchise fees, again, are those 5% of gross revenues the city gets, in essence as rent for Comcast, using the rights of way that money goes directly into the general fund and there are no limitations of its use. It is up to city council and the mayor's office and budget officer to determine how that money is. But in essence, it's hard to track it. It just goes into one big pool peg. Fee revenue, which is collected separately, can only be used for capital construction. It cannot be used for operations.
Speaker 6: So the next question is going to be a little harder. So I want you to take out your crystal ball or look into the future and give us sort of your projection. And, you know, maybe you guys from Comcast can help. The industry is changing. We wouldn't have thought, you know, 25 years ago that we'd be using the Internet the way we're doing. Lots of things have changed. And do we have any anticipation that cable TV is not going to have the same dominance that it has had in the industry, if you will, in the way that it's utilized today by many people?
Speaker 3: I will go ahead and let Jeff talk about that portion of that. I think from a city standpoint, there's going to be increased diversification. I mean, that's why I think you've seen Comcast purchase Universal and NBC, not to put words in Comcast's mouth, but I think from the regulatory standpoint is definitely going to be a challenge for cities to protect our authority in the public rights of way. I think you're exactly correct, Councilwoman, that in fact, just today I was reading about two congressmen who are planning to file bills to update the Communications Act of 1934, which covers all of this. To tell you the truth, I don't think anyone will disagree. Communications Act does need to be updated. It was last changed in 1996, does not even reference the Internet. So clearly there's a lot. And obviously companies like Comcast are providing multiple services. I think the challenge for the city over the next even 5 to 10 years will be to make sure that there's not deregulation to the point that it also includes our local authority to control the public right away. By federal law, it's usually the local government that has that authority to make sure that we can protect that investment.
Speaker 6: And it's why it's important that we pay attention to any of that federal legislation that moves through and weigh in on it as well.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Okay.
Speaker 6: Jeff, do you want an answer? My question is what?
Speaker 3: Yeah. I'd be happy to answer. To answer that question. Councilman Ortega, thanks for the question. It's a great one. And it's one that, you know, obviously my company thinks a lot about in terms of, you know, the future of TV and where's it going. And I think an important piece of this franchise agreement that we negotiated with the city is it does allow Comcast the flexibility to innovate and to continue to invest in our products and services here in Denver. It's not overly, you know, prescriptive in that sense. And so I think that was a strong signal of the kind of partnership that that was important to Comcast, the partnership with the city to, you know, really, this is the kind of city that we want to invest more in. But I think in terms of, you know, the relevance of KKTV down the road, I mean, one thing that we've been putting an enormous amount of resources and and time into is making sure that we're making TV and, you know, are cable services as relevant to people as possible? And a piece of that is making sure that that our customers, your constituents can watch content and programing on any device that they have whenever they want to watch it, wherever they may be. So with, you know, just in the last year, we've had sort of these, you know, really revolutionary developments in terms of our of our cable architecture and allowing our customers to, you know, if if there are a customer, you know, a, you know, a digital customer at their home, you know, that they can watch that content that they're paying for, you know, on their iPhone or iPad or their Droid device. And whether they're, you know, somewhere, you know, you know, commuting within the city or in the Caribbean or wherever they may be, they're able to get the content that they're subscribing to on that device that that that mobile device. So that's one piece of, you know, what we're trying to do to make content more relevant and to make sure that we stay futureproof and stay ahead of some of these trends.
Speaker 6: So try that the next time I go to Aruba or someplace to make sure I get it. Just kidding. Thank you very much for answering my questions.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilwoman Ortega. Councilwoman Robb, you, Madam President, Councilwoman Ortega, ask one question that I had about the pig fee that Mr. Tasca said was going up 5%. But the implication, I thought, in his testimony was that it was going back to Comcast, but it does go to DPS to Channel eight. The Denver Open media, is that correct?
Speaker 3: Yes, you're correct. Actually, how it works is Comcast collects that and then distributed to my agency with the city. Then we distribute it to those entities. Correct? Okay.
Speaker 1: Okay. And then there was another question on how are we going to enforce the franchise? We talked a little bit about customer service standards, but there are other enforcement things. Can you speak to that?
Speaker 3: Certainly myself and my staff are the enforcers of that. We're the administrators of the contract once it is put in place. So in that we conduct a yearly franchise fee and peg fee audits mean and we're making sure that that Comcast calculates all of that correctly. We get we will be requiring quarterly reports from Comcast on a variety of issues such as telephone response, time sensitive number of complaints, types of complaints, so forth. We monitor all of that against the franchise, document itself to make sure we question things when things don't make sense. We do also take some guidance for customers calling in or contacting our agency as well to to follow up on all of that. So I think it's a, you know, a pretty good way to come about. I mean, it's literally it's monthly that we're looking at some reports quarterly on some of the other reports that I mentioned
Speaker 1: . And are there damages due from Comcast if they do violate some parts of these, how does that work?
Speaker 3: There are exactly there is a fairly extensive section of this franchise having to do with franchise violations. Exactly correct. That is it's a actually it's extremely process from what it used to be, but it's still a has several steps in that. But to answer your question, Shirley, if the city were to get to the point and actually council serves as the local franchising authority in that situation finds that Comcast is in default or in violation. City does have the right to penalize Comcast up to $500 a day per incident.
Speaker 1: Okay. And in the last question, also, based on the testimony about the free market, and I think you addressed it in your opening comments, other providers are allowed to come in and request the same sort of franchise from the city.
Speaker 3: That is correct. Right. Actually, we could have overlapping franchises. This is not a just one time type of thing. This franchise would go into effect in 2014. For ten years, company ABC could come along in two years and they could have a ten year franchise. That is totally. We separate from this. So there can be however many franchises of companies that wish to provide those services. Yeah, you're correct.
Speaker 1: We have had that in the past and we could in the future, right?
Speaker 3: We could. Correct. We had a small company in the past and I actually remain optimistic that hopefully something might happen in the next five years or so with another company. With another company. Correct.
Speaker 1: Okay. All right. That just sort of addresses some of the testimony. Thank you. Thank you. I have one question, actually. It was a well, I haven't been to the meetings. We aren't actually allowed to deny the franchise, are we?
Speaker 3: The city can deny, but only under very specific reasons as a set by federal law. So it's not a matter of whether we just don't want to. Right. The only way that the city can deny a franchise renewal.
Speaker 1: Renewal is.
Speaker 3: If the city can prove that a company does not have the legal, technical or financial capability to operate a cable system. So its federal law is written to make it very difficult not to renew a franchise.
Speaker 1: It's what I recall. Thank you very much. And I don't see any other questions when we look up and down here. So I'm going to close the public hearing and ask for comments from council. Councilwoman Lehman, would you like to make that comment first and then I'll call on you, Councilwoman Fat.
Speaker 4: Yes, I will be abstaining from this voting on this issue because my son works for Comcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilwoman Lehman. Councilwoman Fox.
Speaker 4: I would like to address two different areas here. One, the customer service centers with the Acoma Street Center closing. There was some confusion in my area as to where the closest center was, and I just had an experience this past week where I found out personally where it was for the west side of town. It really is not that inconvenient. It's in Belmar. It's in the same complex as Whole Foods. That wasn't even when I got there. I thought, Oh, now, exactly where is it? It's right there on the corner of Alaska, right there in the Whole Foods complex. So just know there's plenty of parking around it. It's working well for our area. Thank you. As far as the ordinance is concerned, once again, I will be abstaining. Part of the issue that I am concerned about was the issue that President Sassaman raised right at the end about whether we can deny a franchise renewal. And I still remain concerned about the fact that language is in our charter that requires a franchise to be put to a public vote. I would feel far better if that language were removed by the voters from our charter, and that's what I had hoped would happen this last election. They never referred it to the voters, and I still feel uncomfortable saying yes to a renewal when that language remains in the charter. So I will be abstaining as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilwoman Fox, Councilman Lopez.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Madam President. I didn't really have any issues with this actual agreement this time around, but I do I do just want to emphasize the access issue. And although I do agree with my colleague, Councilman Fox, those of us on the west side, we just have to, you know, go down Alameda. But we go down in the wrong direction, guys. We have to go down this way into denver territory. This is the denver city council. This is our agreement with you all. These are jobs that we can have in Denver. And, you know, since I was a kid, we always used to go west of Alameda to do our business and find. And we should be going east of Alameda. I mean, I'm not east of AMI, east of Share, not west of Sheridan. And although I love my friends in Lakewood, Commerce, Councilman, Rival and all those folks over there, Mayor Murphy, they're great people. But I think that, you know, if we're making an agreement with Comcast in Denver. We can create jobs in Denver. So let's do that in Denver and let's make sure that our customers in Denver have that access. And let's make sure there's more than just one rep at the window. Those things are heavy. After a while, you're carrying that box. Anyway, thank you, Madam President.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman Lopez. Councilwoman Ortega.
Speaker 6: I just want to take a moment to thank folks who were involved in this process as well. It took almost a year, a little longer than a year to go through through the well, I guess this last round that we sat through. That's what I was referring to. But I know it's something that's been in the discussion stages for some time. So I want to thank David Broadwell and Skye Stewart as well as Darren Sulky and. Folks from Comcast for the many, many meetings that it took. And my two colleagues, Ginny Fox and Ginny Raab, who sat on the committee and walk through provision after provision, as you all would have the meetings with with Comcast to talk about the areas of contention or where the changes were being made. And I think in the end, this is a good product for the citizens of the city of Denver. I know Denver tried to hold firm on not giving up things that were in the current franchise unless we were getting something else in place of that. And I think the negotiating team did a really good job. So I just want to encourage my colleagues to move this forward tonight. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilwoman. And I see no other comments. I think it's time for a roll call. Madam Secretary Ford's.
Speaker 4: Abstain.
Speaker 1: Herndon High. Kinney, Liman. Abstain. Lopez Montero. Nevitt Ortega. I Rob Shepherd. I. II Brown. I. Madam President, I am Secretary because the voting not so results. 11 Eyes, two abstentions. 11 Eyes two abstentions. The bill does pass. Now, our esteemed secretary has done a wonderful job for us to put in our script all of the other companion bills that we are going to vote on now. Councilman Herndon, will you please put Council Bill 976 on the floor for final passage?
Speaker 5: Thank you. Madam President, I move that council bill 976 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 1: It's been moved and seconded. Comments by Council Councilwoman Fox.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Madam President. This actually authorizes the collection of the increase in peg fee. It is my feeling that we don't really need a peg fee. I'm not interested in increasing fees on the consumer. Frankly, I think there's going to be enough pressure on people to discontinue table service that I do not even want to increase by a nickel. Which is what this does per month. A small amount. But nonetheless, I don't want to put any more pressure on that bill.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilwoman Fox, Councilman Lyman, did you need to weigh in on this one?
Speaker 4: I do. I just will say now that when I abstain on the following ones as we put them on, so I don't have to weigh in every time. I will be abstaining because my son works for Comcast.
Speaker 1: All right. Thank you very much, Councilman Lyman. I see no other comments. So, Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 976 FOX No. Herndon Can each layman abstain? Lopez Hi. Montero Hi. Leavitt Hi. Ortega, I Rob Shepherd. Brooks Brown Hi, Madam President. I will, Madam Secretary, close the voting, announce the results. One Iowa nay and one abstention. Only one I am sorry. 11 I am so glad to hear that. Okay. 11 eyes. The bill does pass. Councilman Herndon, will you please put Council Bill nine, seven and seven on the floor for final passage?
Speaker 5: Yes, Madam President, I move the Council Bill 977 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 1: It's been moved and seconded. Any comments by council and seeing none. Madam Secretary, Roll call Brooks Brown. I futz i Herndon Canete I Liman Abstain Lopez Montero I Leavitt, I Ortega, I Rob Shepherd. Madam President, I Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results. Televised one abstention, 12 eyes. The bill passes. Councilman Herndon, would you please put council Bill 978 on the floor for final passage?
Speaker 5: Yes, Madam President, I move the Council Bill 978 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 6: Second.
Speaker 1: It has been moved and seconded. I don't see any comments. Madam Secretary, Roll call Lopez. Hi, Montero I Nevitt I Ortega I Rob Shepherd Brooks II. Brown, I. Fats I. Herndon. Can each Lehman abstain? Madam President, I will. Madam Secretary, close the voting, announce the results. 12 eyes, one abstention. 12 eyes. The bill does pass. Councilman Herndon, we please put council Bill 979 on the floor for final passage.
Speaker 5: Yes, Madam President, I move. The Council will 979 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 1: It has been moved and seconded. I see no comments. Madam Secretary. Roll call. Ortega. Hi, Rob Shepherd. Brooks Brown by Guy Herndon. Kenny Lehman by Lopez. Hi. Monteiro. I love it. Hi, Madam President. Hi, Madam Secretary. Close to voting announced the result. 13 eyes. 13 eyes. The bill does pass. We're getting good at this. Councilman Hernan, would you please put Council Bill 980 on the floor for final passage?
A bill for an ordinance approving a proposed Cable Franchise Agreement between the City and County of Denver and Comcast, for a non-exclusive cable television franchise, establishing new terms and conditions for high-definition channels, video-on-demand, free service to the public schools, channels for public education and government use, enforcement and other related public benefits.

 (GOVERNMENT AND FINANCE) Renews for ten years the contract with Comcast for a non-exclusive cable television franchise agreement, establishing new terms and conditions for that franchise, including provisions for high-definition channels; video-on-demand; free service to the public schools; channels for public educational and government use; enforcement; and other related public benefits, and specifying customer service standards and compliance with all city, state, and federal requirements referring to Comcast infrastructure in the public rights-of-way. The last reguarly scheduled Council meeting within the 30-day review period is on 1-27-14.  The Committee approved filing this bill by consent on 12-