Guessed right tonight

Nothing to report from tonight's council meeting, at least, not to hear Matt Neely tell it. Good thing, too, cause I had wagered that water polo practice would be far more interesting.

The study session on the city's cable television contract with Comcast merits at least a passing attempt to explain it. The city is worried that nearly a $1 million in franchise fees ($603k for cable and $320k for cell phone service) could be in jeopardy given recent court decisions and changes in the telecom industry. But federal rules allow the city simply to extend its contract rather than go through a renegotiation if the following three conditions are met:

1) Not enough people have complained about the cable service.
2) The city isn't trying to squeeze any additional benefits from the cable operator.
3) A renegotiation would benefit the cable company.

That's not exactly how it's worded, but it's pretty much the gist of it.

This is maybe too esoteric for anyone to care about, but one question is what happens to KMVT in four years when Comcast manages to get out of the contract and people are all watching television over Google. I guess it will be a problem for another reporter.