Cable Advisory Committee

Click here to view a comparison dated November 30, 2016 between Charter Communications' license application submission and Comcast's license application submission.

Click here to view the Issuing Authority Report dated January 17, 2017 compiled by the CAC, and issued by the Board of Selectmen.

Click here to view the Cable Advisory Committee's recommendation letter dated April 18, 2017 to the Board of Selectmen.

Click here to view the Board of Selectmen's Cable Television Initial Licensing Statement of Reasons, pursuant to 207 CMR 3.03(5) and (7), adopted by the Board of Selectmen on May 1, 2017.

Public Hearing

• The Hearing was opened on March 13th at 6:30 PM at the Thomas Prince School, and after presentations by Comcast and Charter, and question and answer periods for both, was continued to Monday, April 3rd at 6:30 PM in the Town Hall Annex. A transcript of the March 13th portion of the Public Hearing can be found by clicking here.
• The hearing was continued on Monday, April 3rd at 6:30 PM and immediately continued to Wednesday, April 5th at 6:30 PM. (The April 3rd date was an inadvertant error, however proper hearing procedures require that we open the hearing on the 3rd, to continue it to April 5th.) A transcript of the April 3rd portion of the Public Hearing can be found by clicking here.
• On Wednesday, April 5th based on new information received that day, relative to the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s approval to fund up to Comcast’s full funding request, the Board of Selectmen voted to continue the hearing to Wednesday, April 19th at 6:30 PM in the Town Hall Annex so that the Cable Advisory Committee could take all information into consideration. A transcript of the April 5th portion of the Public Hearing can be found by clicking here.
• On April 19th, the Board of Selectmen received a recommendation from the CAC and after deliberation, the Board voted to award a provisional or final license to Charter.
• On May 1, 2017, the Board of Selectmen adopted the Cable Television Initial Licensing Statement of Reasons, pursuant to 207 CMR 3.03(5) and (7), selecting to award to Charter the Cable Franchise.
• On July 10, 2017, the Board of Selectmen, and Charter Communications jointly filed a request for a waiver of some of the regulations for cable franchising. This waiver was approved on July 19th by the Department of Telecommunications and Cable. Please click here for a copy of the waiver request and the applicable approval.
• On September 13, 2017, after negotiations with Charter the Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to approve and sign the Final Cable Television License with Charter.
• As of September 15, 2017 Verizon completed the make-ready work put forth by the Princeton Broadband Municipal Light Plant (PBMLP). The PBMLP is now working with the necessary stakeholders to transfer the pole license agreement to Charter. Once the transfer is completed, which is anticipated to be complete in October, Charter's 12-month construction period begins, in accordance with the Final Cable Television License.

Establishment of the Cable Advisory Committee (CAC):

• On September 19, 2016, the Board of Selectmen (BoS) issued a Call for Cable (TV) Advisory Committee members. Please click here for the original publication.
• As of the due date for submissions, the Board of Selectmen received 12 submissions of interest for the CAC.
• On October 5, 2016, the BoS appointed a five member Committee, with one alternate, as listed above.
• On October 19, 2016, the BoS voted to approve the CAC "charge". To view the charge please click here.

CATV Licensing Process
For the process, as published by the Department of Telecommunications (DTC), please click on the link entitled "The Cable Television Licensing Process" above. For an abbreviated process, please click here.

See Additional Links above for information/the work of the Cable Advisory Committee.

Updated as of: October 24, 2017