Tonight: Weigh in on Baltimore’s cable franchise agreement with Comcast

Baltimore officials are set to hold a public meeting Tuesday for members of the public to weigh in on cable.
The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. at the War Memorial building. The topic is the city’s franchise agreement with Comcast to provide cable TV. The non-exclusive agreement expires at the end of 2016.
“Negotiations are currently underway to renew the franchise agreement with Comcast,” a notice states.
The city states that the franchise agreement covers cable TV service only. As part of the agreement, the city collects 5 percent of gross local revenues from Comcast. To support facilities and equipment, Comcast pays the city an additional 50 cents per subscriber per month.
Since the agreement is non-exclusive, another company could apply for a cable franchise, but hasn’t.
Comcast’s franchise talks in its hometown of Philadelphia have drawn the interest of technologists there. Members of one the city’s most prominent coworking spaces organized outings to some of the public hearings. Our sister site, Technical.ly Philly, has been following the issue closely.