JSI assists clients in negotiating franchise agreements and other matters relating to franchise authorities. In order to use public rights-of-way, video/cable companies must obtain a franchise. The franchise authority could be a town, county, rural sections of county or entire state. Franchise authority cannot be exclusive to one provider. Franchise Authorities can:

• Collect franchise fees from video/cable company;
• Regulate rates of Basic Service Tier (must be certified with FCC to do so);
• Establish requirements for Public, Educational Governmental (PEG) channels;
• Enforce FCC customer service standards or impose more stringent requirements than FCC; and 
• Restrict obscene programming.

For more information, contact John Kuykendall (jkuykendall@jsitel.com) or John Becci (jbecci@jsitel.com) in JSI's Maryland office at 301-459-7590.