By Dave Schultz, Huntington Herald-Press
The Huntington Board of Public Works and Safety agreed to a plan Monday that would allow a communications company to use the city's rights of way to link homes and businesses to a fiber optic network.
The board agreed to give Cinergy Metronet a 16-year franchise to use the rights of way. That that brought an objection from a representative of Comcast, the city's current cable television provider.
City Attorney Ted Bendall said Cinergy Metronet deserved the same 15 years to get started that Comcast's predecessor received when it first wired the city for cable television.
At public hearings earlier this month before the Board of Works and the city's Common Council, Cinergy Metronet President Steve Biggerstaff said the company would take a year to get started in Huntington. That's why Bendall suggested that the contract go one year beyond the 15 years granted to the original cable TV franchise.
Laura Rhodes, government and community relations administrator for Comcast in Fort Wayne, said she was "puzzled" about the deal. When her company signed a new contract agreement last year, she said, the board would only grant it seven-year contract with two three-year extensions built in. Now, she said, a new company was getting the kind of long-term deal Comcast had wanted.
"If you weren't comfortable doing it with us, why are you wishing to go 15 years with a company you have no track record with?" Rhodes asked.
Bendall, however, said the extra time was necessary to allow Cinergy Metronet an opportunity to install its infrastructure, the same way the cable TV franchise had a long-term deal to get its infrastructure in place.
"We now have a new kid in town that wants the same 15 years," he said.
The board members - Mayor Terry Abbett, John Stoffel, and Martin Young - voted unanimously in favor of the agreement.
Cinergy Metronet will offer cable television, telephone, and high-speed Internet service through its fiber optic network.