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Kenneth Thompson Page Two May 28, 1986 <br /> 7 . The ordinance granting a franchise to Village <br /> Cable of Orange County, Inc. was adopted on January 26, <br /> 1981 . <br /> 8. This franchise was accepted by Village and <br /> the effective date of the franchise is. February 25, <br /> • <br /> 1981. <br /> 9. The ordinance granting a franchise to Village <br /> Cable imposes a number of significant requirements in <br /> the area of facilities, equipment and services. All of <br /> these requirements are contained in the proposal <br /> submitted by Village which proposal is incorporated by <br />- ` r-ef erence into the franchise granted Village. <br /> 10. The Village Cable franchise further requires <br /> Village Cable to serve all of the unincorporated areas <br /> of Orange County according to an extension policy and. <br /> required Village Cable to build 160 miles of plant <br /> without regard to density within an initial service <br /> area and within 18 months of the effective date of the <br /> franchise. The franchise granted to Village Cable is <br /> also fifteen years in duration with a ten-year renewal. <br /> There is no practical way to compare the franchise <br /> granted to Village Cable and the franchise granted to <br /> Alert Cable T.V. Orange County "grandfathered" Alerts <br /> cable operations, having determined that the proposal <br /> by Village to serve all of the County was superior in <br /> the areas of facilities, equipment, service and <br /> extension policy to that proposed by Alert at the time <br /> of the initial franchising. It would seem to me that <br /> consideration by the Board of County Commissioners of <br /> an amendment to the pre-existing permitted use <br /> franchise granted Alert, which amendment did nothing <br /> more than to extend Alert's territory, creates a <br /> fairness question. The capital invested by Village in <br /> order to meet the County's franchise requirements was <br /> considerable. No such requirement has been imposed on <br /> Alert. It seems to me that the only equitable way to <br /> ;j consider the request by Alert is for the County to <br /> undertake to spell out requirements which have as a <br /> ' minimum those requirements imposed on Village Cable. <br /> This can be accomplished by a request for proposals <br /> following the procedure prescribed in Section IV of the <br /> Orange County Cable Television System Ordinance. <br /> There may be advantages to Orange County in <br /> permitting more than one cable operator to serve all of <br /> the unincorporated areas of the County or even in <br /> :=4 dividing the territory of the County. However, the <br />