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a. Second Reading -Ordinance Granting Franchise to Time Warner EntertainmentlAdvance- <br />Newhouse Partnership, to Own, Operate and Maintain Cable System in Unincorporated <br />Orange County <br />The Board considered a public hearing and approving upon second reading of a cable franchise <br />renewal ordinance (agreement} with Time Warner Entertainment/Advance-Newhouse Partnership, as <br />recommended by the Orange County Cable Advisory Committee, in conjunction with the Triangle J Cable <br />Consortium consultant collaborative and establish a special technical consulting committee to review and <br />provide recommendations to the Board on a video production plan to equip both meeting rooms - <br />Hillsborough and Chapel Hill -for live public telecasts. <br />Chair Brown said that this is strictly a legal agreement and the Board does not support Time <br />Warner's commercial interest in this County. <br />Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that at the September 2"d meeting, the Board <br />adopted the proposed agreement on the first reading far the renewal of the cable television franchise far <br />unincorporated Orange County. <br />Public Comment: <br />Bob Gywnn said that the Board and Time Warner have been working on this since 1975. He <br />said that it seems to him that in this country we have lost sight of the idea of the social contract. As far as <br />he is concerned regarding programming, we have in Orange County two separate systems, the Chapel Hill <br />lineup and the Carrboro lineup. What is really important is the three PEG channels- public access, <br />education and government channels. The government channel makes local government accessible to the <br />public. The Board of County Commissioners is telecast on The People's Channel but it cannot be seen in <br />Carrbaro. He hopes the County will persist in this. <br />Chair Brown said that Mr. Gywn has worked on this for many years trying to get the citizens of <br />Orange County fair access to the public channels, and this has failed because of Time Warner's resistance <br />in providing these channels for public use. <br />Chair Brown said that this is a contract that the County has already been told that Time Warner <br />is going to refuse. Time Warner has no intention of agreeing to anything that was not financially suitable to <br />them. <br />Commissioner Carey said that it seems that they have been working on this for so long and he <br />finds himself reading this letter from Mr. Phillips and getting upset all over again. He said that it was a <br />failure on Time Warner's part and the Commissioners are trying to protect the public's interest. <br />Chair Brown said that this is also asking Time Warner to expand into Orange County and they <br />are rejected by Time Warner due to density issues. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he was thinking back to 1986 when he started dealing with this. <br />He wants to support this and move on. He is tired of dealing with this. <br />Commissioner Jacobs pointed out that even AOL wants to disassociate its name from Time <br />Warner. <br />Brad Phillips, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for Time Warner Cable, <br />apologized that the County Commissioners did not see his letter until today. It was sent out on September <br />25th. He said that this franchise went into the renewal window in 1993. He said that even though their <br />efforts have been sporadic, there has been a lot of progress. There are two or three issues that remain to <br />be resolved. One is the PEG access channels. They have agreed to three channels. He asked that the <br />Board not take action on this and not approve a second reading, but refer the negotiations back to the <br />negotiating team and allow them to resolve the differences, which are few. He also asked that the Board <br />appoint one of the County Commissioners to be a part of the team. He would also be willing to bring to the <br />group the Division President Tom Adams. <br />Chair Brown said that this has come up each of the last seven years and she asked why Time <br />Warner does not want to have a cable contract with Orange County. Brad Phillips said that they do want a <br />contract. He said that since 1997 when he came on board, they worked with the Triangle J group. They do <br />want the franchise renewed in Orange County. He thinks it is very close to being resolved. <br />Chair Brown asked him to point out which issues they are not interested in adopting as part of <br />the contract. Brad Phillips painted out the letter, which lists the issues. He said that they have agreed to <br />