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Select Board approves amended Comcast cable contract after public input
Summary
After a public input session with Comcast, the Acton Select Board voted March 19 to approve a Comcast cable contract with amendments to list municipal departments that will receive free service; activation will roll out neighborhood by neighborhood and the contract requires town-meeting approval for any franchise fee.
The Town of Acton Select Board voted March 19 to approve a Comcast cable contract, with an amendment directing staff to list the municipal departments that will receive complimentary service.
Tom McGurty moved to approve the Comcast Cable Contract effective March 19, 2025 “as presented with amendments” and Daniel Norwood seconded; the motion carried. During a public input session preceding the vote, Brian Christianson, a Comcast representative, described the proposal as installation of a brand-new cable infrastructure and said work on the network would be completed roughly 18 months after the contract is signed. Christianson said service activation would be a “rolling activation,” starting in the southern part of town and moving north.
Residents asked whether the 5% franchise fee in the draft contract would be imposed. Dennis Long asked whether the Select Board planned to impose that fee; the Town Administrator said legal counsel advised that imposing a franchise fee requires town meeting approval. Christianson said the contract covers video services as required by state and federal franchise rules but that Comcast also offers internet, home telephone, home security and mobile services separately. When asked about reliability, Christianson said their systems achieve about “99.9% in uptime.”
The board approved the contract with direction to the Town Administrator and Comcast to finalize departmental listings (to be appended to page 43 of the contract). The board did not finalize a schedule for full roll-out beyond the company’s south-to-north activation plan. The Town Administrator noted that any change that constitutes imposing a franchise fee would require referral to a town meeting for voter approval.
The contract approval closes the public-input phase and delegates final non-substantive edits to staff; the Select Board’s vote was recorded as carried on March 19. Next steps include receiving the amendments to the departmental list and completing the contract signature process.
