UPDATED, March 2: For the first time, residents 65 and older who get Medicaid and Social Security and are Comcast subscribers are eligible for a discount — $2 off its digital starter package.
The offer is part of a new, 10-year agreement cable-TV agreement endorsed Monday, Feb. 27, by selectmen, leaving Verizon the last of three cable providers lacking a contract. An agreement with RCN was signed first, last September.
That accord also provides that Comcast will:
— Provide 5 percent of its gross revenues to ACMi, the town’s cable-TV station, which broadcasts local-government meetings, educational programs, resident-created shows;
— Give ACMi $50,000 per year for capital -equipment upgrades over 10 years, for a total of $500,000, an increase of $170,000; and
— No longer be responsible for I-Net, the town’s network, which transmits channels from school buildings to viewers, and pay the town $25,000, making RCN responsible for it.
John Maher, chair of the Cable Advisory Committee and the former town counsel, called the negotiation “very contentious.” Included on the town side were Manager Adam Chapdelaine, Town Counsel Doug Heim and special counsel Peter Epstein.
Selectman Joseph Curro Jr. expressed disappointment about Comcast’s refusal to broadcast ACMi programming in high definition, despite ACMi’s capability to do that. Comcast also did not agree to video on demand.
Maher said RCN had agreed to high-definition programming in its contract.
Noting that the agreement does not include the former Gibbs School which is to renovated for sixth-grade classrooms, Maher said that provision can be added later.
The beginning date of the Comcast agreement Oct. 1, 2016.
Comcast customers enrolled in a senior discount program will retain their existing discount until making a change of service or receiving advance notice from Comcast, wrote Gregory Franks, Comcast senior manager of government and regulatory affairs in a Feb. 21 letter to selectmen.
Comcast reserves the right to modify or eliminate such program at its sole discretion, Franks wrote. In the event Comcast adopts and offers a statewide senior-citizen discount program, Comcast reserves the right to implement such program, after reasonable written notice to your office, he wrote.
This news report was published Wednesday, March 1, 2017, and updated March 2, to correct numbers.
