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Committee backs seven-year Comcast franchise amendment; city seeks higher fees and preserves digital-equity programs
Summary
The committee recommended passage of council bill 121163, an amendment extending Comcast's cable franchise and raising the city'wide franchise fee from 4.4% to 5% and PEG fees from 0.4% to 0.6%; staff said the changes align Seattle with peer cities and could raise roughly $400,000, and preserved Seattle's Access for All program for nonprofits.
Seattle IT and central staff briefed the Governance and Utilities Committee March 12 on proposed amendments to the city's cable franchise with Comcast and the committee recommended the item for passage.
Rob Lloyd (chief technology officer) and John Morrison Winters (digital equity and broadband manager) summarized a multi-year ascertainment and negotiation process that prioritized equity, affordability and maintaining public-access benefits. The proposed amendment would add seven years to the current Comcast agreement, raise the franchise fee from 4.4% to 5% (the…
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