Town of Hudson looks at cable fees

Talk about it

No action was taken, but Town of Hudson Supervisor Tim Foster brought a proposal to the town board Tuesday, March 29, to keep roughly $13,000 in franchise fees from local cable provider Baldwin Telecom in an attempt to give the town some extra spending money in the general fund. The yearly fee is currently not assigned to be spent anywhere, however the town has continued payments to the Hudson area cable commission, which provides local cable access channels to subscribers.

The channels provide local programming, such as local government meetings and local sporting events and are completely funded by fees received by cable subscribers, with a portion of that coming from the franchise fee. If the fee is rescinded and kept by the town, the cable commission argues that there will be a decrease in services, such as the coverage of board meetings, and online streaming of certain programs, or even a complete blackout to the town of Hudson subscribers. These channels are not available to non-cable and satellite subscribers.

No action was taken on the subject, however the town has suggested that it would try and look into the amount of interest and viewership the current cable access channels have, and continue giving the franchise fee to the cable commission until a decision is made.

Tags: town of hudson, communities, government