CONWAY — As part of the license renewal process, town officials are considering ways to expand Comcast capabilities so they can broadcast live out of Conway, thus giving residents access to Selectboard meetings on public television.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, town boards have been holding meetings remotely via Zoom. Prior to the pandemic, however, in-person meetings were recorded on camera for viewing later, said Selectboard member Bob Armstrong, who is also a member of the Cable Advisory Committee.
“We have to record those and hoof that tape down to FCAT (Frontier Community Access Television), where they process it and put it on the server, and it’s a day or two before it’s visible,” Armstrong recounted. “We’d really rather they were live.”
During a public hearing on Dec. 21, Armstrong said the Cable Advisory Committee has gone through several designs with the cable company, in terms of how that would be accomplished — which includes the installation of fiber-optic cable from the Town Office to Town Hall, and other necessary equipment.
The town has come to an agreement on how the setup process will be achieved and who will pay for what, Armstrong noted. The final element of the agreement involves going over the details of ownership of the equipment.
Attorney Bill Solomon explained that the town would cover the initial cost of the equipment, but that it would be owned by Comcast, which would be responsible for maintenance, repair and replacement costs.
“Sometimes the way this happens is that Comcast doesn’t take money from the town, but they put all of the expense of it on the subscribers,” Armstrong said. “In other words, they charge so much per subscriber per month, and the subscribers end up paying for all that equipment. We want to keep the rates here in Conway really low.”
Armstrong said Conway has about 500 Comcast subscribers.
The capital cost of the project comes to $32,000, Solomon said, half of which would be paid upfront while the rest is paid out over nine years.
“We have a pool of savings that we can use to pay for this equipment in addition to what Comcast is going to give us as part of this license,” Armstrong explained. “It’s not going to cost the town any money, but we would rather not have the subscribers in Conway pay, either.”
Armstrong and Solomon said the town isn’t ready yet to sign an agreement with Comcast, but that the two sides are “almost there,” in Armstrong’s words. At a Selectboard meeting earlier this month, Solomon said there were still language issues to work out in the contract.
“I’m looking forward to getting the draft back from Eileen (Leahy) at Comcast,” he said.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne