Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Cable Firm to Consider Offer to Settle Dispute

An attorney for Comcast Cablevision said Thursday the company would give serious consideration to the city’s offer to settle a potentially costly dispute over the terms of its franchise agreement.

“We really are very interested in sitting down with the city and entering into settlement negotiations,” Comcast attorney Maureen Whalen said. “We take this very seriously.”

Santa Ana is offering to give Comcast three more years before it would have to pay $2 million for a TV production studio for the city. In return, Comcast is being asked to agree not to increase its basic service rate, now $13.50 per month.

Beginning this month, Comcast raised its basic monthly rate to $17.95. The company has said the rate increase is necessary because of several expensive provisions in its franchise agreement that the city refuses to renegotiate. Comcast has also said it would refund the amount of the rate increases if the city relaxes its stance.

Whalen said company officials would study the offer over the next few days before responding next week. However, she said three other disputed provisions in the contract “absolutely would have to be addressed” to make the settlement offer acceptable.

Those three provisions are:

A $468,000 annual grant for public access, educational and local government broadcasting.

A $200,000 closed-cable network linking public agencies.

A system linking community colleges and other cities for educational programming.