Fort Smith mayor vetoes cable franchise extension

Mayor Ray Baker has vetoed an ordinance approved Feb. 17 by the Board of Directors that granted a third extension of the franchise agreement between the city and Cox Communications, a regional cable and internet provider.

City staff and Cox officials have been unable to come to terms on several issues involved in a new franchise agreement, including a provision in the previous agreement that required Cox to keep a local customer service office in Fort Smith. The franchise agreement between the city and AT&T does not have the local office provision, and Cox officials seek the same terms as their competitor.

Deputy City Administrator Ray Gosack told the board Feb. 17 that city staff would provide an update of the discussions with Cox at the board’s Feb. 24 study session.

Mayor Baker opposed the extension at the Feb. 17 meeting, and has carried through with a veto.

“The City Staff and the representatives of the Cable Company have had long enough to work out a franchise agreement and to continue to ask for extensions is wrong and only brings more disagreement and requests for changes,” Baker noted in a statement accompanying the veto.

Also, Baker continues to express displeasure with Cox Communication’s decision to move religious programming — some of it locally produced — to a different channel tier structure that requires customers to pay more for access to the new tier.

“The cable officials should be told to leave the lower tier channels intact and keep their local service office open,” Baker said in the statement.

The ordinance is automatically placed on the March 3 regular meeting agenda for the board’s reaction to the veto. To override the mayor’s veto will require five affirmative votes.