Prior to the New Hyde Park Village Board meeting, held last week, there was a hearing to describe the details of the newly proposed franchise agreement between the village and Cablevision.

Before introducing cablevision representative Jeff Clark, village attorney John Spellman said, "Outside the scope of this hearing there are programming and rate structures controlled by other agencies, particularly the Public Service Commission, so other than those items everything else in the agreement is 'fair game' to talk about."

He then introduced Jeff Clark to the board and to the members of the community in the audience. Clark said, "It's been a long road of updating franchises and I am happy that we have this one concluded. The current agreement expired in 1993 and under state and federal guidelines we were operating with a temporary operating authority that allows us to continue service to your residences while we are negotiating a new franchise."

Clark explained, "It took a long time, for a lot of reasons. But most had to do with the Nassau County Village Officials Association. Back in the '90s the VOA decided to come up with one document that would serve all of Nassau County. It was fairly successful and got a lot of things accomplished. Because each village, in each town, is unique and has its own needs the VOA came to a certain point and then everyone started to go in their own direction. Many Cablevision agreements have been renewed and I'm happy that New Hyde Park is finished as well."

Clark said that the agreement is for 10 years, with an option to renew which is the same as the former agreement and it is standard in both Nassau and Suffolk. The 10 year time frame is mainly because Cablevision investors like to see long-term agreements. Clark added, "Further, it is what the PSC recommends and if anything was shorter than that I would be back in three years starting the process all over again."

Clark said the agreement is nonexclusive which means that if another cable operator comes along and wants to provide service the village is not prevented from signing with them. Clark continued, "For the right to have our wires run down your streets we pay a franchise fee to the village of 3 percent and that will continue until the end of this agreement. The village will see a slight increase for advertising and home shopping revenues. Included in the gross receipts definition, which dictates the franchise fee, we included a section for Internet service. Right now we are not paying on it. We have customers who have Optimum-On-Line. The FCC is reviewing it and is trying to put it into a definite category for revenues."

Clark said, "As in the old agreement we are required to provide service to the entire village. It has to be available to everyone. We will also continue to provide free service to village hall and whatever other municipal buildings the village designates; to schools, libraries, fire houses and police stations. The village will also receive free Internet service for four computers."

He said that Cablevision has to abide by all the rules and regulations that are included in the agreement. For instance if Cablevision cuts a road to run wires, or if any construction is required, then they must obtain the necessary permits from the village. Further, they are required to restore any property that is used for Cablevision wires or equipment and that requirement is for both village property and resident property.

Clark said, "We are also required to meet customer service standards regulated by the PSC and the FCC outlined in the agreement. The system right now, without getting too technical, is a 750 megahertz fiber optic system with standby battery power and supplies. Basically, the system is state-of-the-art built in this village four years ago so New Hyde Park has the top of our technology. We have worked very hard to make sure that everyone in Nassau is 'on the same page' with the same number of channels and the same programming. In the beginning we had 11 different rate cards in Nassau. Now we only have three and that's because some villages have access channels. There is a minimum, in the agreement, of 77 channels. But there is a lot of flexibility and it can only expand."

"There is a most favored nation clause agreement and a portion that is called a level playing field, "said Clark. "This language is for us to come back to the village, in case there are some burdensome regulations placed on us by the village, and we could then state our case and ask for relief. This is standard for our agreements. However, there really isn't anything in the agreement that we would need to seek relief from but our investors like to see this kind of clause in our agreements."

Clark continued, "There is a security fund, as required, so we deposit $7,500 to the village to make sure that we live up to our agreement. The village is well-protected."

Trustee Donald Barbieri asked attorney John Spellman the definition of the most favored nation and the level playing field.

Spellman replied, "The most favored nation status is a term used internationally and it means if a better deal for franchise fees is cut by Cablevision with any other municipality then they have to notify this village of that deal and New Hyde Park has the right to ask for the same deal. On the other side of the coin, if a competitor comes into the village and offers to provide the same service and cuts a better deal then Cablevision has the right to come back to the board and seek to renegotiate its franchise fee. In the event that the board cannot reach an agreement there is a provision for a public hearing to give Cablevision an opportunity to lay its case out to the public. It does not guarantee an agreement, but it does provide an opportunity to present its case and the public is allowed to respond."

Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro said, "The village board looked at the 3 percent rate. We had a chance to change the rate to 5 percent but we made a conscious decision to keep the rate at 3 percent because we felt that the additional 2 percent is an additional tax source to residents. Therefore, we asked Cablevision to modify what they originally offered from the 5 percent back to 3 percent because we feel that we are getting approximately $45,000 a year in revenue and that is made up of resident subscribers. We did not want to impose a greater tax on the residents of New Hyde Park."

Since there were no questions from the audience, the hearing was closed and there was a slight recess before the start of the regular village board meeting.