SEQUIM — Wave Cable TV will assist the city in broadcasting City Council and other city-related meetings and events next year under its new franchise agreement.
The council approved a Wave franchise agreement with the city 5-0 Monday night, with Mayor Ken Hays and Councilman Bill Huizinga absent.
Councilman Ted Miller voiced support for cable broadcasts of city happenings, saying he has campaigned for it.
“I’m a big champion of it, and I hope we can move forward full speed ahead,” Miller said.
City Attorney Craig Ritchie said the new franchise agreement with the city, which replaces the existing 20-year deal struck in 1992 with Wave’s predecessor, Northland Cable, sets the franchise fee at 5 percent of the cable TV company’s revenues in the city of Sequim.
Ritchie said the city would likely buy the video camera and other equipment and Wave would provide technical assistance in getting meetings on the new Sequim public channel.
Wave serves some 14,500 Clallam County customers, about 1,240 of them in the Sequim city limits, which generates about $57,000 a year for the city, said Elray Kunkel, city interim administrative services director.
Adds public channel
The franchise agreement adds a Sequim public channel, and the city can increase the fee if federal law allows.
Ritchie said the city may get additional revenues out of the agreement if a utility tax issue on “Voice over Internet Protocol” telephone utility service is settled, which would result in a 6 percent increase.
Ritchie said the 5 percent franchise fee would disappear without a franchise extension “and cable service would, theoretically, not be available in Sequim unless we extend, renew or create a new franchise agreement.”
A 2007 franchise amendment increased the franchise fee from 1 percent to 5 percent and increased the fee payment frequency from annually to quarterly.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.