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. Mayor Cole, 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. Mayor Cole and Staff have been refining the remaining unresolved items, and with concurrence from Charter, is recommending what is intended to be a final extension of the current franchise to allow the parties to complete the details on 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 $1,420,349 in revenue for the City of Billings for Fiscal Year 2020.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the Resolution extending the current Bresnan/Charter franchise agreement term through December 31, 2020.