City Council panel likes cable television contract

The approval of a cable television system franchise for Cox Communications of Las Vegas Inc. has came one step closer to reality in the city of Las Vegas, as a City Council recommending committee has given the plan two thumbs up.

The committee of councilmen Michael McDonald and Larry Brown on Tuesday gave a recommendation to pass the proposed ordinance as well as another bill that would repeal a 22-year-old ordinance that regulates the cable industry locally.

The bills mirror similar ordinances that were passed last week by the Clark County Commission and others that are being considered by municipalities around the valley.

The Boulder City Council on Tuesday approved the franchise agreement for Cox to serve its community. It is a 10-year pact with options on two five-year extensions.

The Las Vegas City Council on Monday will conduct what is expected to be the final hearing to consider granting the non-exclusive franchise to Cox, which is in the process of buying out the existing franchisee, Prime Cable, the area's largest cable company, for $1.3 billion.

The measures drew protests from people who believe that repealing the existing ordinance will allow Cox to not provide public access channels.

"These (existing) laws are public access friendly," said Tina Schafer, director of Citizens for Public Access, noting that there are 1,200 public access channels offered nationwide.

She noted that the Cox proposal offers education and government-use channels, such as Prime Cable's Channel 4, which broadcasts City Council and County Commission meetings, but no "public" channel. Instead, "community access channels" are offered by Cox, but there is no definition in the proposed ordinance spelling out what that means, Schafer said.

Officials for the city, Prime and Cox said that definitions are in the works and that the public will have access to channels.

One fear is that members of the public who obtain use of a public access channel on a first-come, first-served basis, as the current ordinance would allow, may produce soft-core pornographic shows similar to those that exist in other communities that have such channels.

As part of the agreement, Cox has "committed" to complete by Jan. 1, 2000, the state-of-the-art fiber optic build out that was begun by Prime Cable.

The new franchise agreement, if passed, also would increase the franchise fees, which would boost the city's revenues by $1.2 million over the next two years and $200,000 a year over the remaining eight years of the franchise agreement.

The franchise fees would climb from the current 3 percent of gross revenues to 4 percent the first two years. That figure would climb to 5 percent -- the federally mandated ceiling -- for the remainder of the franchise agreement.

Boulder City already receives 5 percent of gross revenues from Prime and that will not change.

If approved, Cox also would receive two conditional extensions of five years each from the city of Las Vegas.

The city initially had granted a 20-year community antenna television system franchise in December 1979 to Prime Cable -- then Community Cable -- owned in part by the Greenspun family, owners of the Sun.

In May, Prime agreed to sell the company to Cox, a Delaware-based corporation.

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