Verizon
The franchise agreement is between the State of New Jersey and Verizon. Information can be obtained at the Office of Cable Television, http://www.state.nj.us/bpu/divisions/cable/
Comcast
The Township of Franklin entered into a franchise agreement with RCN with Ordinance 3147 and amended the agreement with Ordinance 3476. RCN became Patriot Media, and subsequently purchased by Comcast.
Timeline
December 11, 2014: Comcast’s Franchise Agreement with Franklin will expire.
December 11, 2011: The start of the ascertainment period, an optional two year fact-finding period where the Township examines the past performance of the cable operator and determines the future cable-related needs of the community.
December 11, 2013: The end result of the ascertainment phase is a compilation of all the records in a municipal report
March 11, 2014: Upon receipt of the municipal report, the cable operator will have 90 days in which to file a municipal application
The culmination of the process is the decision by the Township to renew or deny the franchise. The Township must make its decision no later than 150 days from the filing of the application by the cable operator and no later than 30 days from the last public hearing.
The Office of Cable Television (OCTV) provides a Franchise Renewal Guide at: http://www.nj.gov/bpu/pdf/cablepdfs/FranchiseRenewalGuide.pdf
TOWNSHIP ORDINANCE
The Cable Television Advisory Committee was established by Ord. No. 1020 in conjunction with Ord. No. 996 which established the cable television franchise. (See Ch. A402 of this Code.) Ordinance No. 996 was replaced by Ord. No. 1731 which did not provide for this Committee; therefore the Committee was recreated on February 23, 1999 by Ord. No. 3031.
The title of this article was revised from "Cable Television Committee" to "Cable Television Advisory Committee" 7-14-2009 by Ord. No. 3836
