Telecommunications, Utilities and Franchises

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Staff

Thomas M. Tarapacki
Director of Office of Telecommunications, Utilities & Franchises

Richard Keane
Deputy Director of Office of Telecommunications, Utilities & Franchises

Telecommunications, Utilities and Franchises Office Duties

• Monitoring of compliance of the City's cable television franchise
• Resolution cable television subscriber complaints
• Negotiation of cable and telecommunications franchise agreements
• Oversight of regulation of all cable and telecommunications franchises
• Review of regulation of communications towers
• Monitoring of franchise fee and other payments from cable/telecommunications providers
• Operation of the City's videoconferencing facilities
• Operation of the Apollo Media Center
• Operation of the City's Public, Education and Government Access TV Channels:
• "Community Billboard"
• "The Education Channel" (Time Warner Channel 19)
• "Public Access" (Time Warner Channel 20)
• "Think Bright" (Time Warner Channel 21)
• "The Government Channel" (Time Warner Channel 22)
• Promotion of the deployment of advanced communications in government, education, the private sector and the community-at-large
• Identification and examination of potential opportunities in the purchase of natural gas, electricity and telecommunications services for the City to reduce its costs, increase revenues and protect and enhance the quality of the environment
• Advisement of City officials on cable, telecommunications and utility issues and forwarding of recommendations for legislative initiatives