Cable Franchise

The City has received a request from Comcast for a cable franchise to construct, operate and maintain a cable system in the City. Pursuant to this request, we have prepared the documents listed below to process the City’s consideration to allow additional cable franchises.

The below documents have been prepared to comply with the franchising procedure required under Minnesota state law. The documents have been reviewed by City Council and a Notice of its Intent to Franchise a Cable System in the City's official newspaper as required under state law and in accordance with the attached timeline. Interested parties may obtain copies of the Request for Proposals (RFP) and related franchise documentation as described in the Notice and the City should thereafter follow the procedure outlined in the Notice and RFPs which is derived substantially from the procedure outlined under Minnesota state law.
 
To the extent applications are submitted by entities which possess the requisite legal, technical, and financial qualifications, the City will likely be required to grant one or more additional cable franchises. Federal and state law prohibit a municipality from preventing otherwise qualified entities from providing cable television services unless they lack the requisite qualifications or otherwise fail to comply with the franchising procedures.
 
It is important to emphasize that at this time the City is only considering the implementation of the state statutory franchising process. There will be a public hearing before the City Council on this matter and no entity will be permitted to provide cable service in the City until the City Council considers the award of a cable franchise.