Boulder renews 10-year cable franchise with Comcast; shifts PEG fee to revenue share

The Boulder City Council on Thursday approved ordinance 86-81 renewing the city’s cable-franchise agreement with Comcast of Colorado for a 10-year term running March 1, 2025, through Feb. 29, 2035.

Carl Castillo, chief policy adviser, said the renewed agreement preserves customer-service and technical standards the city can regulate under federal law, continues a 10-year term, and retains the city’s 5% franchise-fee cap. The council also approved a change to how public-education-and-government (PEG) support is collected: rather than a per-subscriber flat fee Comcast collected from customers, the renewed agreement ties the PEG payment to a share of Comcast’s cable gross revenue (0.48%).

Staff and the council said the change is intended to stabilize PEG funding as traditional cable subscriptions decline even while Comcast gross revenue overall remains higher (because customers now buy multiple services). In 2023 the city collected about $50,000 under the legacy per-subscriber PEG fee; applying the new revenue-share formula to 2023 revenues would have yielded roughly $80,000.

Andy Davis, Comcast director of government affairs, said Comcast coordinates with the city on permitting and restoration and complies with construction and maintenance standards. Mark Garcia, senior civil engineering manager for planning and development services, described city inspection and restoration processes that apply to Comcast construction activity.

The renewal passed on roll-call vote and will allow the city to continue collecting franchise fees and PEG funds for Boulder Channel 8 and Boulder’s education channel. Councilmembers voiced appreciation that the agreement preserves consumer protections while adapting PEG funding to industry changes.

What’s next: The franchise takes effect March 1, 2025, and staff will continue to administer inspection, permitting and PEG funding procedures under the terms of the renewed agreement.