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Finance Committee recommends 10‑year Comcast franchise renewal with lowered PEG fee; motion passes 6‑0 to send to full council
Summary
The Finance Committee voted to refer a 10‑year Comcast of Oregon franchise ordinance to full council with a 6‑0 recommendation. The Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission staff negotiated a settlement that sets the PEG fee at 2.5% of gross revenues and keeps the 5% franchise fee; commissioners and staff said the PEG rate remains among the highest
The Portland Finance Committee on May 12 recommended that the full City Council adopt a 10‑year franchise ordinance to renew Comcast of Oregon’s cable franchise and continue access to the public right of way.
The committee voted to send the ordinance to full council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was moved by Councilor Perdel Guiney and seconded by Councilor Novick; the roll call recorded aye votes from Perdel Guiney, Novick, Green, Tom Los and Zimmerman and the motion passed and was referred to the full council with the recommendation to pass.
Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission staff, who negotiated the agreement on behalf of the member jurisdictions, told the committee the negotiated package reduces the public‑educational‑government (PEG) fee from the current 3% of gross revenues to 2.5% but emphasized that the result remains “one of the highest” PEG percentages nationwide and on the West Coast. Andrew Spear, franchise and utility program manager at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, said the five‑percent franchise fee that jurisdictions collect for right‑of‑way use is unchanged.
“This agreement is compliant with FCC Order 621 (2019) and has been reviewed by specialized counsel,” Spear said, describing legal review and an effort to tighten audit language and the definition of gross revenues used for PEG calculations.
Julia DeGraw, chair of the Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, described a multi‑year negotiation that she said focused on maximizing PEG funding for community media centers and avoiding costly legal conflicts. “We really the biggest, most important thing was to bump up the starting point,” DeGraw said, noting the commission pushed to recover PEG funding as subscriber numbers decline.
Staff and commissioners warned that cable subscribership has trended down over the last decade; the commission reported a countywide decline from roughly 80,000 subscribers in 2010–11 to about 70,000 in 2024. That decline reduces the PEG and franchise revenues tied to cable gross receipts even where percentage rates remain high.
Public comment: one speaker One person provided public comment at the committee meeting. Testifier Courtney Ray asked how community media content is accessed by people who do not subscribe to cable. Commissioners and staff said community media centers distribute content through websites, social media and direct streaming, and Open Signal maintains links to channel streams and programming on its website.
What the committee approved and next steps The committee voted to recommend adoption of an ordinance granting a 10‑year franchise to Comcast of Oregon that includes the negotiated exhibits and terms. Staff reported that Fairview, Gresham, Troutdale and Wood Village have already adopted the agreement and that Multnomah County was scheduled to consider it later in the week. The ordinance will be scheduled for a full Council hearing and a final vote in a future Council meeting.
