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potential for data transmission service, live remote <br />transmissions and other expanding opportunities that will <br />arise from technological advances. <br />Another major inequity in the proposal is that Alert <br />would not be required to make the kind of construction and <br />service commitment to the County that was required under <br />the Carolina Cable franchise. That franchise required <br />construction of 160 miles of cable in 18 months. The <br />Alert franchise proposal has only one small 7.2 mile area <br />of required construction. The only way that the two <br />companies' obligations can be regarded as comparable, let <br />alone equal, is to require that Alert be required to build <br />a significant distribution network throughout the county <br />(an initial build of "trunk" cable sufficient to serve all <br />areas of the county) and that Alert then have the same <br />obligations to extend service that Carolina Cable has <br />under its franchise. The most recent draft prepared by <br />the County Attorney has eliminated any meaningful obliga- <br />tion that Alert construct a competing system in the county <br />by giving them a six year period to construct even the <br />most basic trunk lines for such a system. This provision <br />is essentially an admission by the County that it does not <br />intend to require Alert to provide county -wide service, <br />but will simply allow it to expand its existing system <br />into the county whenever it chooses. <br />Alert proposes to make only extensions from its <br />existing plant that meet the density requirements and are <br />=99M <br />