By:Audrey Levine
The Township Committee unanimously approved an ordinance July 7 to renew a contract with Patriot Media, and extend it by five years, to provide residents with access to its own cable television system.
The new deal will remain active when Patriot Media is taken over by Comcast Cable later this month or in August.
The agreement will allow Patriot Media to provide high speed Internet service to firehouses, municipal offices, schools and the Rescue Squad, in addition to the cable and other channels available, according to Committeeman Bob Wagner.
"People can now do rescue training and continued education in online courses in the different buildings," he said.
In addition, the company will continue to offer public access TV 25 and TV 14 for the community and schools, respectively.
The new contract, which is a five-year extension of the original, will last until 2015.
"From an Internet perspective, with the possibilities for training, this is very good," Mr. Wagner said. "We will continue to use channels 25 and 14 to keep residents informed."
According to Mr. Wagner, channel 25 is currently used to provide road-closing information, broadcast local events and repeat council meetings, among other uses. Channel 14, he said, is used for school updates and other Board of Education announcements.
"The channels allow people in the town to tune in for a bit and see what’s going on," he said. "It’s a good way to communicate."
Mr. Wagner said that, since January, the company has also been working in conjunction with the Hillsborough Cable Advisory Committee to ensure that all residents have a cable running to their homes. He said the committee identified areas that were not wired for cable and made the necessary arrangements to fix the problem.
"Anyone in the township can get the cable service turned on now," he said.
According to Mr. Wagner, one main purpose of completing the new contract before the take-over is to ensure that Comcast is still bound by the deal once Patriot Media no longer exists.
"In the back of our minds, we thought someone might want to buy Patriot," he said. "But everything Patriot has now, Comcast will have to honor."
John Gdovin, vice president of operations for Patriot Media, said the New Jersey Bureau of Public Utilities requires that Comcast honor the 31 ordinances the company has with different townships around the state.
"In New Jersey, franchising is controlled by the state," he said. "The deals will be transferred over to Comcast and they will be obligated to honor them."
Mr. Gdovin said that Comcast has not given any indication that they will not honor the ordinances.
Mr. Wagner said the township has been assured that all the advantages agreed upon in the ordinance will continue to be available to residents until the contract expires, when the township will renegotiate and hopefully continue with the public access channels, and other amenities, for Hillsborough.
"If Comcast wanted to renegotiate, they would be entitled," he said. "But there is no concern to speak of now. This is certainly to our benefit."