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RESOLUTION NO. 2010 - 13 2 R <br />A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN <br />MARCOS, TEXAS AUTHORIZING THE CITY TO JOIN A <br />COALITION OF CITIES TO PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM <br />LOSING ACCESS TO PUBLIC, EDUCATION AND <br />GOVERNMENT CHANNELS PROVIDED BY TIME WARNER <br />CABLE THROUGH CONVERSION TO DIGITAL FORMAT; <br />AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. <br />RECITALS: <br />1. The Federal Cable Act of 1984 mandates that cable video providers provide channels <br />on their network for local Public, Educational and Government (PEG) programming. <br />2. The City of San Marcos broadcasts City Council meetings, Planning and Zoning <br />Commission meetings, emergency announcements and alerts, special programs, and a message <br />board on Time Warner Channel 10 and Grande Communications Channel 16 to provide <br />important information and to assure the transparency of municipal government to our citizens. <br />3. The City of San Marcos channel on Time Warner has been available to all levels of <br />{` cable subscribers without additional fees or special equipment for many years. <br />4. Time Warner Cable plans to convert the Public, Education and Government (PEG) <br />channels in San Marcos and other Texas cities to digital format on October 1, 2010 to free <br />bandwidth in order to allocate that bandwidth to other video, internet and telecommunications <br />services. <br />5. The conversion to digital format will require subscribers to have advanced digital <br />televisions and service or converter boxes to be able to view San Marcos education or <br />government channels. <br />6. PEG channels, including the City of San Marcos Channel 10, have traditionally been <br />viewable by every subscriber in the same way that broadcast channels may be viewed by all <br />subscribers. Time Warner does not plan to convert broadcast channels to digital in the <br />foreseeable future and will treat the government channel differently than other basic channels. <br />7. The result of digital conversion means that many customers will no longer be able to <br />view City of San Marcos programs on Time Warner Cable. <br />8. Time Warner has stated it will offer free boxes for a limited period to existing basic <br />and standard service customers, if they request one by a specific date. <br />9. Subscribers will have to install the boxes themselves or pay fees to Time Warner for <br />