IRVINE : Council to Vote on Cable TV Contract

The City Council is scheduled to vote today on whether to grant a 13-year cable television contract to Community Cablevision.

In return for the contract, the cable company would commit to improving picture quality, increasing the number of channels and donating $850,000 worth of television equipment to the Irvine Unified School District and the city.

The decision, scheduled for the 5 p.m. council session at City Hall, will set the stage for a final public hearing on April 28. There is no public hearing scheduled before the vote today.

The decision will follow months of negotiations between city officials and the cable company to iron out details of the contract to replace the current one, which expires Aug. 17.

Community Cablevision, which has provided cable service to Irvine for 15 years, is owned by the Irvine Co.

Last month, the City Council held its first public hearing on the proposed cable television contract and voted to delay a decision to make modifications.

The council wanted to extend the proposed length of the contract from 10 to 13 years in exchange for more concessions from Community Cablevision.

Those concessions include reviewing contract provisions after five years and again after 10 years, and providing more than $200,000 for new interactive television equipment for the Irvine Unified School District.

The $200,000, adjusted for inflation, would be donated 10 years from now to help replace worn-out equipment proposed to be donated at the start of the contract.

Under the proposed contract discussed last month, the cable company would be required to improve picture quality by replacing the current coaxial cable system with a modern fiber-optic line.

The company would also give $650,000 worth of television equipment to the city and the school district for use in community access programs, education and training.