Council to Consider Cable Service Contract

The San Fernando City Council will decide tonight whether to again extend the city’s cable service contract with Time Warner for three more months.

A much longer agreement is expected, but the city and cable provider need more time to hammer out at least one undecided point--whether the deal will include construction of a “media center” at San Fernando Middle School, Councilwoman Joanne Baltierrez said.

If built, the center will feature video cameras and editing equipment for use by students and the public.

But before Time Warner and the city can incorporate the proposal into a long-term agreement on cable service, they must determine what role Los Angeles school officials should play in the negotiations, Baltierrez said.

The three-month extension would provide more time to gather input from all parties, council members said.

Overall, members said the cable deal is shaping up, though details are sketchy because the agreement is not final and negotiations are private.

“We’re making quite a bit of progress,” Mayor Raul Godinez said. “Most of the stuff between Time Warner and the city, we’ve worked out.”

The city last extended the cable agreement for three months in July because city and Time Warner officials could not decide the appropriate length of a long-term contract and debated other disputed points.

On Friday, Baltierrez and Godinez said such a contract is likely to last 12 years, but that its length could still change.

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. the first and third Monday of each month, in its chambers at 117 Macneil St.