(8/20) At its regular August meeting, the Town Council heard a presentation to consider a potential second cable franchise provider for town residents.
Woodsboro currently has a cable franchise agreement with Comcast to provide residents with phone, cable TV, and internet access. Shentel Communications is looking to gain access to the Woodsboro market, but to do so would require them to gain utility right of way to string their fiber optic wires, according to Representative Kirk Kosko.
Based in Virginia, Shentel offers "Fiber To The Home" (FTTH) to 182,000 homes through its product name, "Glo Fiber," Kosko said. Shentel currently has cable franchise agreements with the city of Frederick, Middletown, and has recently signed with Thurmont and Emmitsburg, he stated.
Kosko also presented an overview of Shentel's services, including internet, video, and phone. Shentel offers ultra high-speed bandwidth and symmetrical speeds, meaning downloads and uploads are the same speeds. "That is a lot different than traditional cable company offers," he said.
Shentel is hoping to sign an agreement with the Town that will allow them to use the public utility rights of way. "Their fiber optic cables would follow the existing utilities, mostly power lines," Kosko said. If there was a development with private easements, Shentel would have to negotiate access separately, he explained.
In exchange for allowing the company to use its right-of-way to run their cables, Shentel will pay the Town a five percent "town franchise fee" on the "video" portion of customers’ service packages.
Town staff, however, raised the point that the Town currently gets a five percent "town franchise fee" from Comcast residents on the "video" portion of their monthly bill and, if Shantel comes in with a lower rate for video service and existing Comcast customers move over to them, then the Town revenue from this service will decline.
Burgess Barnes noted the staff’s concern, but said he was in favor of the additional service provider, noting the benefits of competition, and said everyone would benefit from the option to choose the best plan that works for them.
As a first step in moving forward, Kosko asked the Town to provide him a copy of the current contract that the Town has with Comcast and said he will use that to model Shentel’s proposed contract.
If the Town does opt to allow Shentel to enter the Woodsboro market, construction would commence 18-24 months after the franchise was awarded and all construction would go through the Town’s permitting process so that the Town would be aware of where wires would be strung and when, he said.
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