City of Missoula OKs Bresnan contract

Franchise agress to boost Internet services

Missoula gave some and got some in a new cable franchise contract with Bresnan Communications Inc., City Council members said Monday.

By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian

The council unanimously approved the 15-year contract Monday evening after almost five months of negotiations. With it, the city gives Bresnan the right to operate and improve cable TV and Internet services in the city, including the Missoula Community Access Television (MCAT) public access channel.

"We got what we really needed as a city," Ward 2 Councilman Jim McGrath said Monday. "We gave up some things we desired, and I think Bresnan could say the same thing."

Among the trade-offs, Bresnan agreed to continue paying a franchise fee of 5 percent of its gross revenues, although it had negotiated to reduce or eliminate that expense, McGrath said. The city dropped its request for optical fiber cable upgrades for its MCAT service, but did win the possibility of adding a second community access channel in the near future.

Bresnan has been in the process of upgrading its equipment in the Missoula area for most of the summer. The contract states that upgrade work should be done by Nov. 30.

City Finance Officer Brentt Ramharter said that work should include high-speed Internet access through the cable lines.

"We’ll be at 860 megahertz capacity," Ramharter said. "That will be truly state-of-the-art, high-speed service."

Bresnan is taking over the service formerly provided by AT&T in about 200 communities in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. The change is expected to affect about 314,000 basic cable subscribers. Bresnan officials said in March they planned a $200 million capital improvement effort for that area, including the systems in Billings, Bozeman, Helena, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula.

In other business, the council agreed to buy $28,585 worth of computer gear from Missoula-based Emery Computers and a collection of workstations and laptops from Resource Computing Inc. of Spokane for $92,500. The deal drew criticism from Councilman Jack Reidy of Ward 5 and Councilman Jerry Ballas of Ward 4, who complained that the city should not be spending its money on out-of-town businesses.

But McGrath and Ward 1’s John Engen countered that the city had the obligation to get the best deal for the taxpayer, and Resource Computing had the lowest bid. McGrath added that Emery would also get most of the warranty service work, where he said the bulk of a computer purchase’s profits would be made. The deal passed on a 7-2-1 vote, with Ballas and Reidy opposed and Ann Kazmierczak abstaining. Council members Lois Herbig of Ward 1 and Myrt Charney of Ward 4 were absent.

Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at [email protected]

http://missoulian.com/articles/2003/11/04/news/local/news04.txt