Comcast, City of Saline Settle Lawsuit

As previously reported in BloggingBROADBAND, the City of Saline, Michigan recently sued Comcast over the payment of fees to support public, educational and government access programming. Under the provisions of Michigan’s new Uniform Video Services Local Franchising Act, a video service provider is to pay a franchising entity up to 2% of its gross revenues in support of PEG programming if no existing franchise was in place as of the effective date of the Act and if such an amount is established by the franchising entity.

Saline’s Complaint against Comcast alleged that the City had established the 2% PEG fee under Michigan’s new law, but that Comcast had refused to pay the fee. Following seven weeks of intense litigation and negotiation, the matter has now settled: A uniform franchise has been issued to Comcast under Michigan’s new law, and Comcast has agreed to pay the 2% PEG Fee to the City as a term of that franchise. Under the terms of the now-publicly-available settlement agreement, Comcast will also retroactively pay the City one year’s worth of PEG Fees.

Thanks, Saline, for having the courage to pursue this action — it was my pleasure to represent you!