IRVINE : Cable TV Contract Hearing Is Tonight

The city Finance Commission will hold a second and final public hearing tonight before making its recommendations on renewing Irvine’s cable-television contract.

The city’s current 15-year contract with the Irvine Co.’s Community Cablevision expires in August, and the commission will make a recommendation to the City Council on March 24 on the type of contract and the terms the city should seek in renewing the cable agreement.

An earlier Finance Commission hearing attracted a few dozen residents who complained of poor picture quality, service interruptions, a limited number of channels, cost and an inability to use advanced television features because of Community Cablevision’s reliance on decoder boxes.

Community Cablevision Co. is requesting a 25-year contract with Irvine in exchange for improving reliability and picture quality and increasing the ability to offer more channels, including two channels for the city’s use and eight for the Irvine Unified School District, Irvine Valley College and UC Irvine.

The company has also agreed to increase the franchise fee paid to the city from 3% of the basic service fee to 5% of annual gross receipts.

Most cities now receive 5% from their cable companies, said Rick Paikoff, Irvine’s budget manager. The change would increase the city’s revenue by about $300,000 a year.

The proposed contract renewal with Community Cablevision would not give the company an exclusive right to provide cable service to city residents, Paikoff said. But a competing company would have to make a large initial investment to install a second cable to homes, making competition difficult, he said.

A cable-TV task force set up by the city to examine current and future service is recommending that the City Council renew Community Cablevision’s contract for only 10 years to maintain “a short, tough and enforceable contract.”

The task force also is recommending that Community Cablevision be required to look for a way within the next five years to replace its decoder boxes with a direct-hookup system.

Tonight’s commission meeting will begin at 6:30 in the City Council chambers.