Bernard Green, chair of the Brookline Select Board, presided over a special public hearing and on vocal roll call unanimously approved a 10-year renewal of Comcast Inc.'s cable license, the board said at a meeting called to meet statutory renewal requirements.

The board voted to approve the renewal after hearing from Comcast representative Angela Holm Barson and the town's negotiating and legal team. "It's honestly been, a fairly easy process," Barson said, thanking the town for its cooperation. Town counsel Joe Callanan told the board he had no legal concerns after retaining outside municipal cable counsel Bill August to assist with the review.

The renewal keeps the existing funding framework in place, "the annual funding is the maximum permitted by law," August said, noting the license continues the 5%-of-gross-annual-revenues funding level for local channels. August also said the license includes an increase in capital funding compared with Comcast's arrangements in some other communities and that the capital funding is amortized across the subscriber base; as subscribership declines, per-subscriber charges could change accordingly.

The renewal provides for upgrades to Brookline's three public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channels: August said one channel will be upgraded to high definition and two to a higher-resolution SDI format. Comcast and the town agreed on an approximate 18-month window for completing the channel upgrades and said customers will be notified when the changes are scheduled.

Jessica Smizer, executive director of Brookline Interactive Group, said the five-year level funding in the early part of the 10-year contract will help BIG develop alternative revenue streams. "We have been working very hard to create alternative forms of revenue," Smizer said, and welcomed the improved picture quality the town has already seen at recent meetings.

On procedural matters, the board read a draft statement of reasons for the record that cites the board's authority under Mass. General Laws chapter 166A and states that Comcast "reasonably meets the cable-related renewal needs and interests of the public in town" and that Comcast has the financial and technical qualifications and adequate local programming facilities. Board members unanimously voted to supplement their approval by including that language in the record.

Votes at a glance: The Select Board recorded vocal "aye" votes from John Van Scoyak, David Perlman, Michael Rubinstein and Chair Bernard Green on the motion to approve the renewal; the board later voted to supplement the record with the drafted statement of reasons with the same vocal roll call.

The Select Board closed the special meeting after completing votes and wished the community a safe New Year.