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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-120-10/19/1999-CONCERNING THE FIFTH YEAR PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF HERITAGE CABLEVISION OF DELAWARE, INC., DOING BU RESOLUTION 99-120 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS CONCERNING THE FIFTH YEAR PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF HERITAGE CABLEVISION OF DELAWARE, INC., DOING BUSINESS AS AT&T CABLE SERVICES, UNDER THE TERMS OF THE 1993 FRANCHISE AGREEMENT, AS AMENDED WHEREAS, on October 19 , 1993, the Fort Collins City Council (the"Council"), adopted Ordinance No. 115, 1993,pursuant to which it granted a cable tv franchise to the World Company, a Kansas corporation, doing business as Columbine Cablevision ("Columbine"); and WHEREAS, this cable tv franchise was granted to Columbine subject to certain terms and conditions which are contained in the Franchise Agreement dated November 2, 1993, entered into by and between the City and Columbine (the "Franchise Agreement"),- and WHEREAS, the Franchise Agreement granted to Columbine a non-exclusive franchise to construct,reconstruct and maintain a cable system within the City (the "Cable System"); and WHEREAS,on November 29, 1995,the City received from Columbine written notification of Columbine's intent to sell the Cable System to Heritage Cablevision of Delaware, Inc. ("Heritage"); and WHEREAS, on December 19, 1995, the Council adopted Resolution 95-178 approving Columbine's sale of the Cable System to Heritage; and WHEREAS,on October 26, 1998,the City and Heritage entered into their"First Addendum to Franchise Agreement", which amends certain terms and conditions of the Franchise Agreement; and WHEREAS,until recently,Heritage operated the Cable System under the name"TCI of Fort Collins"; and WHEREAS, Heritage now operates the Cable System under the name of AT&T Cable Services as a result of Heritage's parent holding company, TCI, being acquired by AT&T; and WHEREAS,the Franchise Agreement,as amended, currently provides that the City may,at its option, evaluate Heritage's cable operations and service in the fifth year of the term of the Franchise Agreement concerning various matters, including, without limitation, customer service, consumer protection, technical standards, and past performance of Heritage under the Franchise Agreement, and based upon such review, to consider recommendations for changes in Heritage's facilities, equipment and services; and WHEREAS, the Franchise Agreement reached its fifth year anniversary as of November 6, 1998; and WHEREAS, pursuant to the terms of the Franchise Agreement the City elected to conduct a fifth year evaluation; and WHEREAS, in conducting this evaluation, the City held three public forums, established a CityLine number and web site available for public input, surveyed citizens regarding Heritage's services and operations,performed a technical audit of the Cable System,and performed a financial audit of the franchise fee payments made to the City by Heritage; and WHEREAS, the results of this evaluation are contained in a report prepared by City staff titled "Fifth Year Performance Evaluation of AT&T Cable Services" dated October, 1999 (the "Evaluation Report"); and WHEREAS,the Evaluation Report concludes that Heritage is generally performing well on its delivery of cable tv services over its Cable System, but that areas of needed improvement include telephone response and reliability of the Cable System; and WHEREAS, the Evaluation Report makes note with respect to the reliability of the Cable System, that Heritage is currently involved in rebuilding the Cable System, which should enhance system reliability in the future; and WHEREAS,the Telecommunications Board has reviewed the Evaluation Report and agrees with the Report's conclusions and recommendations. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the Evaluation Report is hereby approved. Section 2. That the recommendations of the Evaluation Report be adopted as the recommendations of the Council. Section 3. That the fifth-year performance evaluation of Heritage and the Cable System under the terms of the 1993 Franchise Agreement, as amended, is hereby deemed satisfactorily completed. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held this 191h day of October, A.D. 1999. Mayor ATTEST: )4 L N) �'J'4.tlei � City Clerk