The City and Bresnan Communications, LLC (known as Charter Communications) are negotiating a renewal of the current cable television franchise agreement that will replace the agreement that expired July 9, 2017. That agreement has been extended by the council several times to allow continued negotiations and finalization of a franchise renewal with Charter. There have been several exchanges of proposed draft agreements since the last extension in April 2018. Staff and the Community Channel 7 General Manager have met several times and have discussed the franchise renewal terms with a Charter representative from Helena. Staff, with concurrence from Charter, is recommending a longer extension of the current franchise to allow the parties to agree upon new terms for the next agreement.

City Council may:

• Approve the extension, or;
• Disapprove the extension, allowing the current agreement to lapse.

The franchise fee is expected to produce about $1.8 million in revenue for the City of Billings for Fiscal Year 2019.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the Resolution extending the current Bresnan/Charter franchise agreement term through October 8, 2019.