New Hyde Park Renews Cablevision’s Local Franchise

Cablevision will at least have the ability to run a franchise in New Hyde Park for the next 15 years as the village board approved a new 15-year franchise agreement during a special hearing Tuesday night at the village hall.

“We went through this a while back with the Verizon franchise agreement,” village attorney John Spellman said of the expiring franchise agreement. “We had an opportunity to review most of the concepts in our franchise agreement and also the law. Cablevision has adopted basically the language of the franchise agreement that we negotiated with Verizon and they’re basically coming here to enter into a similar agreement.”

The changes to the contract essentially amounted to replacing Verizon’s with Cablevision and other modifications because one is a cable company and the other is a phone company.

“Now that Verizon is in town and they have a franchise, level playing field was issued by the public service commission so that the agreements, although they don’t have to be identical they have to be equal,” Jeffrey Clark, director of government affairs for Cablevision, said. “One can’t have any more burdensome than the other so it’s better for all concerned to have a similar agreement.”

This would be the third agreement between New Hyde Park and the Bethpage-based cable giant. Each of the previous contract s had lasted 10 years. According to law the hearing has to be held for each of the contracts.

Clark said that “for the most part we match” Verizon’s contract, including providing free service to the village hall, library, village buildings, schools, fire departments as well as matching Verizon’s grant money of $45,000, which is to be paid $15,000 up front with the remaining payments made over 5 years. The company provides one internet box connection to the village hall, which is “standard with all our municipalities,” Clark said.

“Obviously there are a few minor differences,” Spellman said. “Verizon was an initial agreement, they came in to build out so there were some provisions there relative to the buildout but Cablevision is an established entity here in the village, so we’re in good shape there.”

Another change in the contract’s language speaks to Cablevision’s “triple play” – the bundle of voice, internet and video services.

“It makes the franchise fee payment based on the value of the video service,” Clark explained. “If the video service is $90 that a customer’s paying on, we can’t turn around and say ‘oh, no, it’s only $29.’ So we give you the value of it. We made that change in the franchise so the village doesn’t see any decrease in franchise fees.”

The franchise fee, which gets passed along to the consumer, is currently 3 percent in New HydePark, which matches Verizon’s fee and will continue under the new 15-year agreement.

“The public service commission is pushing for 15 year agreements,” Clark said.

Verizon’s contract was also for 15 years.

The revenues from the fee go to the village’s general fund, but are only generated from those residents who have the service.

“So less than the whole is paying a disproportionate share,” Spellman said of residents.

Some communities have a local TV station and utilize the 5 percent figure, using the 2 percent difference to fund that station.

Trustee Donald Barbieri made a suggestion in terms of service to Clark, noting the difference of Verizon in dialing 411, who will connect him with a number directly, while Cablevision’s 411 only offers the number that a customer then has to dial themselves.

“Just a thought for disabled men and women, it’s more than a little bit of a help,” Barbieri said. “A fantastic perk that’s built into the bundle. I think it would help sell the service.”