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territory. Orange County went out of its way to discourage territorial <br /> division because to do otherwise is unlawful. Furthermore, Orange <br /> County, during the franchise award process and since has scrupulously <br /> avoided involvement in any market division of the County among- <br /> competing or would-be competing cable companies and has instead <br /> watciaed as a very competitive posture developed and continues <br /> between the cable companies interested in serving Orange County. <br /> There is no market division in the County's present franchising. <br /> Village Cable is franchised to serve all of Orange County. Alert is <br /> autho sized to serve a very limited portion of the County, but for a <br /> reason unrelated to territorial market division. <br /> Third, Alert was operating within the unincorporated areas <br /> of Oriange County prior to the County's involvement in franchising,. <br /> Once the Board decided to award a franchise to Village pursuant to its <br /> proposal for all of the County and to not award a franchise to Alert <br /> pursuant to its proposal, the question arose as to what to do about <br /> Alert's then existence in the County. It was the decision of the Board <br /> to permit Alert to continue to operate its present plant and equipment <br /> and to continue to serve homes that it had served. Essentially, Alert <br /> was "grandfathered--in" with respect to its existing operations when <br /> Village received a franchise to serve the entire County. This decision <br /> was based both on a notion of fairness and due process considerations. <br /> Next permit me to review the history of the franchise <br /> awards in the County. Orange County adopted its Cable Television <br /> System Ordinance on December 3, 1979. That ordinance established a <br /> procedure for granting franchises. Pursuant to that procedure <br /> applications for franchises were sought. A request for proposals <br /> containing detailed standards was provided to all the prospective cable <br /> operators who inquired. Two applications were received by the <br /> County. One from Village, the other from Alert. The County <br /> appoinited a Cable Television Advisory Committee charged with <br /> responsibility for recommending a request for proposals, for reviewing <br /> any applications and for making recommendations to the Board <br /> regarding any applications received. Pursuant to that process the <br /> Board approved a request for proposals which in the narrative section <br /> stresses the importance of coverage and extension policies in the <br /> award process. The County's goal was to provide cable television <br /> service, to all of the unincorporated areas of the County at a <br /> reasonable cost. The coverage and extension portion of each proposal <br /> was therefore deemed extremely important. I have enclosed a copy of <br /> the recommendation of the Citizens Advisory Committee including a <br /> tenative calendar for any franchise awarded and a copy of the <br /> narrative portion of the adopted request for proposals. Thereafter the <br /> Citizens Advisory Committee submitted its recommendation to the <br />