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2004-11-22 City Council
City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report TO: FROM: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL CITY MANAGER 5 DEPARTMENT: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DATE:NOVEMBER 22, 2004 CMR: 466:04 SUBJECT:RESOLUTION APPROVING A COMPROMISE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AND COMCAST OF CALIFORNIA IX, INC. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that Council adopt a resolution approving a compromise and settlement agreement between the City of Palo Alto and Comcast Corporation. BACKGROUND In 1983, a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement (JPA) was entered into by and between the cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Atherton, and portions of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties for the purpose of obtaining cable television services for. residents, businesses and institutions within these jurisdictions. The JPA gives Palo Alto the authority to grant and administer a cable television franchise agreement (Franchise Agreement) on behalf of all of the JPA members. In 1986, a Franchise Agreement was executed with Cable Co-op. In 2000, the City Council approved a transfer of the cable system from Cable Co-op to TCI, a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, and a new Franchise Agreement with TCI. In July 2002, the Council approved the transfer of control of the franchise to Comcast Corporation after Comcast CorpOration acquired AT&T Broadband. In 2003, Comcast Corporation began rumaing the cable system under the name Comcast of California IX, Inc. (Comcast). As the administrative agency for the cable television JPA, the City is the regulatory agency responsible for overseeing and enforcing the Franchise Agreement with Comcast. The Franchise Agreement required Comcast to complete an upgrade of the cable system, which included the construction of an institutional network (I-Net) within 36 months of the Franchise Agreement effective date, or by July 23, 2003. As one of the key conditions of the AT&T/Comcast transfer approved by the Palo Alto City Council in July 2002, Comcast reaffirmed its commitment to meeting the upgrade deadline. The Franchise Agreement with Comcast establishes procedures for resolving Municipal Code and Franchise Agreement violations. These procedures require the City to notify Comcast in CMR:466:04 Page 1 of 4 writing of alleged violations. The notice must describe the violation and direct Comcast to cure the violation. If the City concludes, after reviewing Comcast’s response, that Comcast has failed to explain to the City’s satisfaction why no violation occurred or has failed to cure the violation, the City may schedule an administrative hearing where Comcast will be asked to demonstrate why it should not be found in violation of the Franchise Agreement. Comcast must be given 30 days’ prior written notice of such a hearing. If, after conducting the hearing, the Council determines that Comcast has failed to satisfy its obligations, it may issue an order assessing liquidated damages on Comcast. The Franchise Agreement specifies liquidated damage amounts for: 1) failing to meet the system rebuild requirements at $1,250 per day; 2) failure to comply with transfer provisions at $1,000 per day; and 3) material violations at $150 per day. On October 27, 2003, staff provided Council with an update on the cable system rebuild project (CMR: 478:03, Attachment A). The update was based on a final inspection of the rebuilt cable system conducted by Columbia Telecolnmunications, Corp. (CTC), a City contractor. The inspection uncovered a number of alleged violations pertaining to the cable system rebuild. The Council was informed that a Notice of Franchise Violation letter was sent to Comcast on October 23, 2003 (Attachment B) addressing the apparent violations. In this letter, the City alleged that Comcast had violated the Franchise Agreement and transfer provision requirements pertaining to: 1) failure to complete the cable system rebuild by the deadline of July 23, 2003; 2) failure to properly construct and make operational the I-Net; 3) failure to provide an emergency override system that can be activated by JPA officials; 4) failure to comply with cable plant construction standards and applicable safety codes; and 5) failure to remove abandoned equipment in the City right-of-way. These violations are described in more detail in Attachment C. The City requested that Comcast cure these violations in accordance with the requirements of the Franchise Agreement. The City anticipated that Comcast’s cure would, include promptly coming into compliance and the payment of liquidated damages for the period of time the violations ¯ occurred. Staff anticipated returning to Council in January 2004 should an administrative hearing be required to address the alleged violations. On October 27, 2003, the City Auditor also initiated a triennial review of Comcast’s overall performance. This review is provided for in the Franchise Agreement and allows the City to consider whether Comcast has complied with its obligations under the Franchise Agreement and applicable law, including whether customer service standards, technical standards and franchise fee payment requirements have been met. Staff planned to combine the triennial performance review process with the cable system rebuild franchise violation process. However, due to a delay in gaining access to Comcast information, the performance audit progressed more slowly than anticipated. As a result of this delay, staff decided to move forward with the cable system rebuild franchise violations separate from the triennial performance review. DISCUSSION On November 21, 2003, Comcast responded to the Notice of Franchise Violation (Attachment D). Comcast generally took the position that it had not violated the provisions of the Municipal Code and the Franchise Agreement set forth in the October 23 Notice. As a result, Comcast’s response offered no cure for the alleged violations. Consequently, on April 15, 2004, the City CMR:466:04 Page 2 of 4 provided Comcast with 30 days’ written notice of an administrative hearing before Council to be held on May 17, 2004 (Attachment E). On May 3, 2004, prior to the administrative hea~ing, Comcast contacted the City with a request to commence a concerted effort to resolve the alleged franchise violations. Staff agreed to meet with Comcast and postponed the May 17 administrative hearing to a later date. The City initiated negotiations With Comcast on May 12, 2004. The parties held a series of meetings to develop a negotiated resolution to the franchise violations. On September 7, 2004, Comcast and the City agreed to the terms of a proposed settlement. The terms of the tentative settlement require Comcast to perform the following: 1)Within eight months of the effective date of the settlement agreement, construct additional fiber optic cable to 27 I-Net sites on the D (Menlo Park) and E (Atherton) busses. This solution resolves the capacity, security, reliability and maintenance issues that currently exist at these locations. 2) Within eight months of the effective date of the settlement agreement, construct a new dedicated fiber optic connection between the C (East Palo Alto) and E (Atherton) and hubs on the I-Net. This additional fiber segment brings the I-Net into conformance with the original design and provides redundancy among the I-Net hub sites, a feature not included prior to the settlemem. This has an estimated value of $300,000. 3) Within six months of the effective date of the settlement agreemem, install and configure equipment to allow each member of the JPA the capability to override the video and audio on the cable system in the event of an emergency. The emergency alert system section of the Franchise Agreement would be satisfied with this solution. 4) Within six months of the effective date of the settlement agreement, purchase I-Net connection equipment in support of JPA area schools and agencies. The provision of this equipment will make it possible for entities to immediately connect to the I-Net. The cost of this equipment was previously not fully funded and some entities would have been delayed in connecting to the I-Net while they acquired funding for equipment. This equipment will help improve data networking capabilities in the schools and JPA agencies. The estimated value is $500,000. 5) Within 30 days of th~ effective date of the settlement agreement, pay the JPA a total sum of $175,000 for I-Net connection assistance. This funding will provide needed technical support to agencies as they implement their I-Net connection plans. 6) Within ten days of the effective date of the settlement agreement Provide a statement attesting that the plant construction and safety code violations have been rectified. 7) Within ten days of the effective date of the settlement agreement Provide a statement attesting to the clean-up and removal of abandoned equipment in the City right-of-way resulting from the rebuild of the cable system. 8) Once Comcast has provided the required notice of completion required in the agreement the City will have 90 days to inspect and test the system for compliance with the agreement. The proposed settlement resolves all of the outstanding franchise violations described in the October 23 Notice and Attachment C. The settlement becomes effective on the date of adoption CMR:466:04 Page 3 of 4 of the resolution approving the compromise and settlement agreement (Attacl~nent F). The settlement is valued at approximately $975,000. The original value of liquidated damages at the time of the franchise violation public hearing on May 17, 2004 was approximately $1,600,000. Given the uncertainties the City would encounter in terms of time and cost if it decided to litigate, staff believes it is appropriate to settle this dispute. Staff believes the settlement amount of $975,000 adequately compensates the JPA for any damages resulting from these violations. More importantly, it would allow the JPA. to attain completion of the cable rebuild sooner than if litigation had been initiated and enable the JPA sc.hools to finally gain access to the I-Net after much delay. This amount and the resulting settlement agreement will allow the implementation of the I-Net to proceed and will provide much needed I-Net connection equipment and assistance to I-Net entities. RESOURCE IMPACT The proposed settlement, valu.ed at approximately $975,000, compensates the JPA communities for damages resulting from the alleged franchise violations described in .this. report -This money and equipment will be allocated to JPA members for their I-Net needs. POLICY IMPLICATIONS This recommendation is consistent with existing City policy. ATTACHMENTS Attachment A: Status of Cable System Upgrade and Institutional Network (CMR:478:03) Attachment B: October 23, 2003 Notice of Franchise Violation Attachment C: Summary of Franchise Violations Attachment D: November 21, 2003 Response to Notice of Franchise Violation Attacl-nnent E: April 15, 2004 Administrative Hearing Notice Attacl’unent F: Resolution Approving Compromise and Settlement Agreement PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD APPROVAL: ’~ RAMBE~ DAVID _ Cable Franchise Manager CARL YEATS/ Director, Administrative Services CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: City Manager CMR:466:04 Page 4 of 4 ATTACHMENT A City of PMo Alto City Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT:ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DATE:OCTOBER 27, 2003 CMR: 478:03 SUBJECT: STATUS OF CABLE SYSTEM UPGRADE AND INSTITUTIONAL NETWORK (I-NET) This is an informational report and no Council action is required. BACKGROUND In 1983, a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement (JPA) was entered into by Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Atherton, and portions of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties for .the purpose of obtaining cable television services for residents, businesses, and institutions within these jurisdictions. The JPA gives Palo Alto the authority to grant and administer a cable television franchise agreement on behalf of all of the JPA members. In 1986, a cable television franchise agreement was executed with Cable Co-op. In 2000, the City Council approved a transfer of the cable system from Cable Co-op to TCI, a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, and a new franchise agreement with TCI. In July 2002, the Council approved the transfer of the franchise agreement to Comcast Corporation after Comcast Corporation acquired AT&T Broadband. In March 2003, Comcast Corporation..began running the cable system under the name Comcast. The cable franchise agreement requires Comcast to complete an upgrade of the cable system, which includes the construct an institutional network (I-Net), within 36 months of the effective date of the franchise agreement, which is July 24, 2000. Comcast initiated the project in May 2002. As one of the key conditions of the AT&T Comcast traflsfer, approved by Council in July 2002, Comcast reaffirmed its commitment to meeting the upgrade deadline. This report provides the status of upgrade project and informs Council whether Comcast met the deadline as required in the franchise agreement. CMR: 478:03 Page 1 of 6 DISCUSSION The existing cable system, constructed in 1983, that serves Palo. Alto and the JPA communities was built entirely of coaxial cable. The cable, system upgrade required in the cable franchise agreement requires replacing sections of the cable system infrastructure with new coaxial cable, installing a new fiber-optic-cable system backbone and replacing power supplies and connection equipment. The upgraded system anticipated by the franchise agreement with Comcast should result in enhanced signal quality, greater system reliability, improved picture quality, and new services. In addition, customers should experience fewer outages and better audio and video performance. Institutional Network The cable system upgrade also includes the Construction of an I-Net. The I-Net that Comcast is obligated to construct is a network of fiber optic cable connecting the public facilities and schools within the JPA communities, comprising 70 sites. It wilt have the capability of providing voice, video and data communication between the I-Net sites. Also connected to the I-Net will be the Media Center, serving as the community access organization (CAO). With the Media Center connected to the I-Net and with each I-Net site connected to the Media Center, the broadcast and video capabilities in the JPA communities will be greatly expanded. In addition, the I-Net can also provide connectivity between sites that are now served by other telecommunications services. By connecting sites over the I-Net, K-12 educational institutions, the cities, and community organizations may be able to eliminate current leased line telecommunication costs and gain significantly greater network performance. The JPA communities continue to discuss the I-Net to develop an implementation plan and timeline. The JPA anticipates that organizations will start using the I-Net once its completion is verified. New Government Channel 29 Another result of the cable system upgrade is the addition of a new government channel to the basic tier of service. Channel.29 is the new government channel that will join the existing channel 26, making for two dedicated government channels serving the JPA. The Media Center manages both channels on behalf of the JPA in their role as the CAO. Government channel 29 provides an increase in much needed scheduling capacity. This added capacity will reduce conflicts in the schedule of live city council meeting broadcasts in the JPA communities. Currently, only Palo Alto and Menlo Park broadcast live city council meetings. On certain dates during the year, both Palo Alt0 and Menlo Park may have a live city council meeting scheduled and currently only one meeting can be broadcast live on channel 26. With the addition of channel 29, both meetings can now be broadcast live simultaneously. Channel 29 will also provide added capacity for the broadcasting of live committee and commission meetings that are currently only broadcast as replays on channel 26. The JPA is working with the Media Center on a plan to fund the costs involved in activating the additional government channel. CMR: 478:03 Page 2 of 6 In the future, both the Town of Atherton and the City of East Palo Alto may consider broadcasting meetings live. Should these cities decide to broadcast, then the broadcast capacity on channel 26 and 29 would be further shared until the point that an additional government channel could be added, as allowed for in the franchise agreement. Channel 29 will be officially live starting in November and the broadcast schedule for channel 29 and 26 will be publicly noticed and advertised. Proiect Review In February 2003, staff provided Council with a status report on the cable system upgrade and I-Net project, which included a discussion of the design review, permitting and construction monitoring processes employed by the City to oversee the project (CMR: 138:03). Comcast started construction on the cable system upgrade and I-Net project in July 2002. As required by the franchise agreement, Comcast must have completed the project by July 24, 2000. In order to determine whether Comcast has completed the cable system upgrade in the manner required by the franchise agreement, the City retained the services of The Buske Group, and Columbia Telecommunications Corporation (Columbia). Both firms have provided services to the City during the past cable franchise agreement renewal process in 2000 and subsequently in matters related to Comcast’s franchise agreement compliance and design and construction review. Columbia reviewed the system design submitted by Comcast in April 2002 and construction status in December 2002 and April 2003. In order to determine whether Comcast completed construction in the manner and by the deadline required in the franchise agreement, Columbia began reviewing system test reports immediately after the July 24, 2003 construction completion deadline. In August, Columbia spent time in the field performing inspection and testing activities throughout the system. These actiVities were coordinated with Comcast and were designed to confirm to the City that the cable system upgrade was complete. Columbia reviewed both the subscriber portion of the cable system (used to provide cable TV and cable Internet services) and the I-Net during this time and delivered their findings in a report (Attachment A). The key findings of the Columbia report are: ¯The I-Net has not been completed as required by the franchise agreement ¯The Cable System rebuild is substantially complete, however a number of construction-related cable system issues remain to be completed ° The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is not configured correctly , Comcast customers are now receiving service on the upgraded cable system Each of the key findings is discussed below in further detail. CMR: 478:03 Page 3 of 6’ I-Net has not been completed as required by the franchise agreement The franchise agreement, in sections 7.3.2 and 7.3.3, requires that six optical fibers (I-Net links) connect each I-Net facility (schools and government sites) to a hub site located at the city hall in the community in which that I-Net facility is located. Each city hall hub site is then connected to the Community Media Access Center (CMAC) and the CMAC is connected to the Comcast cable system head end. These Six fibers are designated for the sole use of the site they serve and no other site is served by those fibers. Under the cable franchise agreement, the organization that manages the CMAC is the Media Center, located at 900 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto. The I-Net is structured around the cable system, which is organized into buses. These buses are portions of the system infrastructure that run from the system head-end to serve a single large geographic area, i.e." South Palo Alto. The system is divided into five buses (A, B, C, D and E). The I-Net is constructed on four of these buses (A, C, D, and E). On buses A and C, Comcast used six optical fibers to connect each I-Net site to the hub location. This is consistent with the I-Net plan approved by the.City. However, on buses D and E Comcast used, insome cases, as few as three optical fibers to connect multiple I- Net sites back to the hub location. This discrepancy is a clear violation of the requirement in the franchise agreement. The Cable System rebuild is substantially complete, however a number of construction- related cable system issues remain to be completed Columbia’s review indicated that Comcast had, in large part, constructed the subscriber portion of the cable system in conformance with the franchise agreement and industry practice and safety codes. However, the report identified a number of "clean-up" issues that the company should address. The findings point primarily to instances where cable drops are not grounded properly or missing guide wires were not in place. Emergency Alert System (EAS) is not configured correctly The franchise agreement, section 7.14.1, requires .that Comcast install as part of the cable system, an emergency alert system (EAS) for the purposes of sending emergency broadcasts. The EAS system required should be installed and function in a manner that permits authorized emergency authorities of the JPA cities to override the cable system to provide local emergency messages to residents. The EAS system installed by Comcast is funetional; however, the system cannot currently accept remote override from the representatives of the JPA. Comcast Customers are now receiving service on the upgraded cable system Comcast began migrating customers to the upgraded portion of the cable system in May. Virtually all customers were on the upgraded system by the end of July 2003. Columbia’s review of performance tests showed that the upgrade system serving customers met the requirements of the FCC proof of performance tests. CMR: 478:03 Page 4 of 6 Comcast’s upgrade of-the cable infrastructure in the JPA communities has enabled Comcast to deliver reliable service, good picture and sound quality, and advanced services such as digital content and high-speed cable Internet access. For the first time since 2000, customers can now obtain new cable Internet access. In the future, this infrastructure should enable Comcast to provide services such as high-definition television (HDTV), video-on-demand and even faster Internet access. Franchise Violation Based upon detailed construction and engineering review prepared by Columbia, and summarized in the key findings above, the City concludes that Comcast did not complete the cable system upgrade and I-Net consistent with the franchise agreement and failed to meet the cable system construction deadline of July 24, 2003 as required, in the franchise agreement. City staff has provided Comcast with a copy of the Columbia report and has met with Comcast to discuss the findings of that report. A notice of Franchise Violation was provided to Comcast on October 23, 2003. The franchise agreement requires, when a franchise violation has been identified, that the City provide Comcast written notice of the alleged franchise violation. Comcast is given 30 days to respond to the violation notice and to indicate whether the company intends to contest the violation or provide a plan to cure the violation. Should Comcast choose to contest the alleged violation or the City deem the cure to be unacceptable, the City may schedule an administrative hearing where Comcast can show cause as to why it is not in violation of the franchise agreement. If, after the administrative hearing, the City concludes that Comcast is in violation of the agreement, the City may assess liquidated damages of $1,250 per day. The City issued a letter to Comcast alleging a violation of the franchise agreement on October 23, 2003. Comcast has 30 days to respond to the letter. When the City receives Comcast’s response, staff will evaluate it and make a determination whether to proceed to the next phase of the violation process, an administrative hearing before the City Council. Should such a hearing be necessary, it would likely be held in January. RESOURCE IMPACT The costs associated with The Buske Group and Columbia performing a review the cable system upgrade are covered through cable franchise fee revenue paid to the JPA Communities. The franchise agreement also includes a one million dollar performance bond paid by Comcast that covers any damages or loss suffered by the City as related to Comcast not completing the rebuild. Any determination of damages or loss will be made at a later time. POLICY IMPLICATIONS This report does not represent any change to existing City policy. CMR: 478:03 Page 5 of 6 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW This is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act. ATTACHMENTS Attachment A:Columbia Report PREPARED BY: DAVID RAMBERG IT Manager, External Services Cable Franchise Manager ’~tive Services CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: EMILY HARRISON Assistant City Manager cc: JPA Members CMR: 478:03 Page 6 of 6 COMCAST CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM INSPECTION AND TESTING REPORT PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA October 2003 Prepared by Columbia Telecommunications Corporation 5550 Sterrett Place, Suite 200 Columbia, Maryland 21044 (410) 964-5700 o fax: (410) 964-6478 www.internetCTC.com Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .....................................................................................................1 1.1 Subscriber Network ........................................................................................................1 1.2 Institutional Network (I-Net) ..........................................................................................2 1.3 Recommendations ...., ......................................................................................................2 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................................5 Headend ..........................................................................................................................5 2.2 2.3 Distribution System ........................................................................................................6 Channels ..................................... .......................................................6 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 III. 3.1 Emergency Alert System (EAS)/Local Emergency Override ........................................6 PEG Identification ................................................................................................., ........7 Cable Modem Service .......... ............................................................................................7 Subscriber Services .........................................................................................................7 PERFORMANCE TESTING .............................................................................................8 Test Standards ....................................................................................................... ..........8 3.2 3.3 Proof-of-Performance Test Review .....................i. .........................................................8 Test Procedures .......................................................................8 3.4 3.5 IV. 4.1 4.2 Test Equipment ...............................................................................................................8 Test Result Findings .......................................................................................................9 PHYSICAL PLANT INSPECTION .................................................................................11 Inspection Procedures ......-. ......................... ............................................................... Inspection Standards and Authority ......................L ......................................................11 4.3 Types and Numbers of Violations ................................................................................12 4.3.1 Plant 4.3.2 Plant 4.3..3 Plant 4.3.4 Plant 4.3.5 ’ Plant 4.3.6 Plant 4.3.7 Plant 4.3:8 4.3.9 Violations: Bonding and Grounding: ...............................................................12 Violations: Lashing Wire .................................................................................13 Violations: Construction ..................................................................................13 Violations: Physical Clearances .........~ .......2 ....................................................13 Violations: Pedestal .........................................................................................14 Violations: Guying ..................: ........................................................................14 Violations: Anchor ...........................................................................................15 Plant Violations: Miscellaneous ......................................... .......................................15 Drop Cable Violations ..............................................................................................15 4.4 . Summary of Inspection Results ....................................................................................16 4.4.1 Plant Violations ..................................................i ..............’ ................." ........................16 4.4.2 Drop Violations .....................: ..........................16 V.I-NET EVALUATION ............................................................................".17 5.1 I-Net Overview .............................................................................................................1,7 5.2 I-Net Site Inspections ....................................................................................................17 ¯ 5.3 Additional Design Information .....................................................................................18 VI.TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE FRANCHISE AGREEMENT ....................23 Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Table of Figures 1: I-Net Schematic (provided by Comcast) ................................................................: ......19 2: I-Net Schematic of Busses A, B, and C ........................................................................20 3: i-Net Schematic of Buss D ........................i ......:, ....... .....................................................21 4: I-Net Schematic for Buss E .....................................i .....................................................22 5: I-Net Schematic for Buss D (provided by Comcast)..., .................................................53 6: I-Net Schematic for Buss E (provided by Comcast) .....................................................53 7: I-Net Signal Flow Diagram for Buss D .........................................................................54 8: I-Net Fiber Distance Diagram for Buss D .....................................................................55 9: I-Net Signal Flow Diagram for Buss E .........................................................................56 10: I-Net Fiber Distance Diagram for Buss E ...................................................................57 APPENDICES Appendix A--Electrical P~rformance Standards Appendix B -- Headend and I-Net Pictures Appendix C -- Test Results Appendix D -- Physical Inspection Results Appendix E -- Detailed I-Net Schematics for Busses D and E Appendix F -- About Columbia Telecommunications Corporation I.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In early August 2003, Columbia Telecommunications Corporation ("CTC") conducted a detailed technical review of the cable system in the franchise area served by Comcast in Palo Alto, East Pa!o Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, and portions of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. This review included inspection of the headend and electrical testing and inspection of a~sampling of the physical plant. This review also included inspection of selected Institutional Network (I-Net) sites and an analysis of the network infrastructure. 1.1 Subscriber Network CTC’s technical evaluation was intended to detemaine the physical condition of the cable system and the overall quality of its construction, and to verify the status of the upgrade required under the franchise agreement. Prior to performing the inspection, CTC staff met with Comcast at the construction office to discuss I-Net and upgrade status and to insPect the headend. Electrical testing was performed to determine the signal quality del?cered to subscribers on the system. CTC staff inspected two areas, .or categories, of cable plant: (1) aerial cables and equipment ("plant"), and (2) snbscriber residence service connection installations ("drops"), for compliance with upgrade requirements and applicable safety and construction standards. Signal quality testing was conducted at the headend and four locations on the cable system. Two of these locations were selected to compare Federal Communications Comlnission (FCC) proof- of-perfornaance tests with current system operation. The electrical testing perfornaed at the headend and each of the four locations rnet FCC signal quality requirements. From our survey of the cable plant, we.concluded that, with the specific exceptions noted herein, the cable plant has generally been constructed to conform to safety codes and industry practice. However, removal, or "wreck out" of old equipment was not completed in most inspected areas. In addition, grounding of end-of-lines (EOL), as required by the National Electric Code and the California Safety Code, was still in progress. CTC’s physical plant inspection concentrated on EOLs because they are the most likely to have grounding and guying infractions. Aerial plant in backyard easements was visually inspected from the street where possible. Areas in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton were reviewed, and similar problems were found in all areas inspected. Appendix D contains pictures and locations where infractions were found. The plant inspection revealed a number of code violations and deviations from accepted industry practices. Specifically, CTC’s inspector identified 23 plant violations in approximately 50 miles of cable plant inspected. These areas represent approximately ten percent of the entire system based on plant mileage. We regard this percentage of violations to be on the high side of acceptability, especially considering that we are dealing with cable plant that has just recently been upgraded. The majority of plant violations fell into the grounding and guying categories. Specifically, twelve of the twenty-three violations identified involved grounding and four involved guying violations. Many of these violations occurred at EOLs, where many were not grounded properly or were missing guy guards. Eleven service drops were inspected to verify correct grounding of the drops. The drops that were inspected were observable without contacting residence owners. Two of the dr+ps were improperly grounded to waterlines. One location had disconnected drops left dangling from the pole. Appendix D contains pictures and locations where infractions were found. Generally, it appears that new drops are installed correctly. There were no observed clearance issues with drops. Older drop grounds may still be connected to waterlines instead of power grounds. 1.2 Institutional Network (I-Net) Based on the original System Level Design for the I-Net submitted by AT&T, axad the requirements listed in the Franchise Agreement, we find the I-Net to be out of compliance with the Franchise Agreement. The I-Net is divided into individual sub-networks or Busses. Each Buss supports a specific geographical area and I-Net sites within those areas. In the initial construction phase, Busses A (Palo Alto), B (Palo Alto), and C (East Palo Alto) were built with six independent fibers connected to City hub sites in a point-to-point configuration in a fashion that we judge to be in compliance with the requirements of the Franchise and consistent with the parameters of the original System Level Design as described by AT&T to the City Staff. However, in Busses D (Menlo Park) and E (Atherton), the design has been abruptly modified so that most sites are not directly linked to the hub site. Rather three fibers come into each site and then exit to the next site. Only one site in the chain eventually directly connects to the hub site and through only three fibers. The design modification on Busses D and E affect 27 of the total 70 I-Net sites (including the hub sites and the CMAC). The resulting implementation for Busses D & E is unacceptable to meet the needs as defined in the Franchise Agreement. Specifically, the design provides both greatly reduced capacity and creates a reliability and maintenance nightmare since all sites are in series in the Buss, in a manner much like the old Christmas tree light bulbs, i.e. if one site goes out, then all sites behind it in the series go ont. While ring architecture has been long used in networks, it is not appropriate in this instance since many fibers travel the same physical routes and therefore provide no true route diversity for the system. Ring architectures with route diversity utilize geographically distinct routing of the fiber optic sheaths to provide multiple physical paths for the data to travel, and increase the physical redundancy and reliability of the network. Busses D and E do not achieve this level of reliability or redundancy with the current physical architecture. In the event of a fiber cut on Busses D or E, many sites may be isolated from the rest of the network. In the inspections of a sampling of I-Net facilities, we found they were of uniform construction. However, there were problems noted including: (1) missing fiber warning tags at certain facilities; (2) a fiber drop was secured to a tree; (3) a patch panel at the East Palo Alto hub site was improperly secured; and (4) fiber path loss tests could not be conducted due to lack of available fiber testing equipment from Comcast. 1.3 Recommendations The Franchise Agreement between the JPA and AT&T contains a number of specific technical requirements that must be met by the cable provider in order to be in compliance with the Agreement. A number of these requirements are either pending, ongoing, or require City action, and include: § 7.3.3 - This section describes the requirements for I-Net configuration. The system as implemented does not meet the requirements of this section. § 7.11.5 - CTC did not address the cable drops for PEG locations; o This matter will be addressed in the Buske Group report for Triennial Review; § 7,11.5 - CTC did not address cable modem access for schools and libraries; o This matter will be addressed in the Buske Group report for Triennial Review; and § 7.14.1 - The ability to override the audio and video on all channels of the cable system by authorized local government emergency officials is not available on the current EAS system. Based on our testing and inspection process, CTC recommends the Cities take the following actions to ensure that the cable system and I-Net perform reliably: Conduct, in the next 30 to 60 days, a physical plant re-inspection and drop re-inspection after notification to Comcast of their current violations to ensure that violations have been corrected in a permanent manner, including issues such as completed wreck-out, proper grounding and guying of EOLs, and proper grounding of drops; Review system physical construction when completed, due to incomplete wreck-out; Follow up with Comcast to ensure they provide designated City officials with the ability to control local emergency override of the cable system; Review system physical construction for proper grounding of the physical plant, including EOLs and active devices, as this was still ongoing during CTC’s inspection; Follow-up with Comcast to resolve issues regarding grounding of old drops to power grounds instead of water lines; Review deviations froli1 original I-Net design for Busses D and E, and follow-up with Comcast regarding these changes; Require Comcast to have available on site fiber optic power meter test equipment and trained technical staff able to use this equipment. At the time of our I-Net inspections, CTC was unable to test link continuity and path losses because Comcast did not have equipment available. This equipment, while low in cost, will be critical for maintenance purposes to ensure continual performance and minimal downtime on the subscriber and institutional networks; and Foll~ow up with Comcast regarding the fiber drop that was secured to a tree and installation of proper fiber warning tags at facilities. Follow up with Comcast regarding-the fiber patch panel mounting in East Palo Alto. This report documents CTC’s testing and inspection processes and findings. Section II describes Cable system components. Section III describes the testing process, testing standards, and results of the testing performed. Section IV describes the inspection process, inspection standards, types of violations, and significance of each type of violation. Section V describes the I-Net architecture and deviation from the original design. Section VI details the technical requirements of the Franchise Agreement and Comcast’s compliance with these requirements. Appendices at the end of the report contain the data collected by CTC during its testing and inspection. 4 II.SYSTEM DESCRIPTION The Comcast system serving the Palo Alto area consists Of 63 nodes covering @proximately 500 lniles of plant. The headend is located at 3450 Garrett Drive in Santa Clara, California. The Santa Clara facility is one of three interconnected headends that serve the San Francisco Bay Area. The system configuration is a hybrid fiber/coaxial design with a maximum cascade of five amplifiers and an upper bandwidth of 860 MHz. The reverse portion of the plant has been activated and is currently used for subscriber high-speed data services, converter control, and status monitoring. The nodes are manufactured by Antec/Scientific Atlanta and are from the Proteus series. Amplifiers are manufactured by General Instrument/Motorola. The entire plant has battery operated stand-by power. Subscriber taps and passive devices are rated for 1 GHz: Taps can supply power for future telephony operation by changing the tap faceplate. Some power passing taps are currently installed in the system. Power passing taps allow Comcast the ability to integrate cable telephony into the Palo Alto system in the future. 2.1 Headend The Comcast headend is a state-of-the-art facility containing all reception equipment, switching equipment, status monitoring, commercial advertisement insertion, and digital television equipment. The headend is connected with fiber to three other headends that service the Bay area. The site also contains a master-control monitoring center that makes visual, and electrical tests on each channel. A telephony switch is also co-located at the site. To service Palo Alto, new Scientific Atlanta Continuum lnodulators were added to the existing facility. Additionally, new Arris Laser Link III lasers and reverse receivers were added to service the Palo Alto fiber optic nodes. The existing digital control, status monitoring, high- speed data equipment, and reception equipment were expanded to provide the programming necessary for the Palo Alto subscriber system. The headend facility is powered by a Balanced Power III 65-kilowatt UPS, two Argus redundant -48 Volt DC supplies, and a 500-kilowatt diesel Caterpillar generator. The entire facility has FM 200 fire protection and is cooled by three redundant 24-ton Liebert air conditioning systems. Most broadcast television reception is obtained via fiber and the interconnected headends. Satellite reception is currently provided by nine single-feed dishes and one multi-feed dish. Satellite receivers are manufactured by Standard Communications, General Instrument, and Scientific Atlanta. The General Instrument/Motorola digital television receiver is currently controlled by the Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) system. In the future, local control of the digital programlning can be accomplished by the addition of the General Instrument DAC controller. At present, three channels are groomed using Big Band and Cherry Pickers. Big Band and Cherry Picker groomers allow Comcast to shift digital channels received from satellite feeds into their own selected bandwidths. Two 6 MHz, 256-QAM channels of high-definition video are currently provided to Palo Alto subscribers. All digital converters use the return spectrum for control and provision of digital services: Status monitoring of the Palo Alto system is provided using the Cheetah system. High-speed data services are provided using Cisco UBR Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) equipment. Local and Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) programming is received using Radiant multiple-channel and single-channel baseband equipment and switched onto corresponding PEG channels. Currently, four fibers are dedicated for PEG and local channels from the Palo Alto system. Appendix B contains limited pictures of the Santa Clara headend facility. Comcast restricted pictures to equipment used by the Pato Alto subscriber system, including generators, satellite receivers, stand-by generator, and master control. 2.2 Distribution System In most cases, the existing, unused, "B" cable was spliced with new passive and active devices. Comcast estimated that 118 miles of cable were replaced. The active devices include Motorola 860 MHz bridgers, mini-bridgers, and line extenders. No more than five active devices were installed in cascade to iinprove system performance and reduce service interruptions. All power supplies are 90-volt stand-by power supplies with battery back-up. The system design was completed using Computer Aided Design (CAD), which will provide an excellent platform for future system additions and changes. The fiber optic nodes are capable of return segmentation through the addition of fiber optic return laser modules in the nodes. Therefore, in the future, return segmentation can be accomplished with minimal System changes. 2.3 Channels All basic and expanded basic channels are available without a converter. Premium and pay-per- view services are only offered as digital services. Presently, basic service includes 30 analog channels secured using trap technology. Basic service includes broadcast television, PEG and local origination channels, and limited other services. Expanded basic service includes 38 additional channels. Digital service is available in additional tiers and includes premium, pay- per-view, high-definition, and music services. Digital services require a digital converter. 2.4 Emergency Alert System (EAS)/Local Emergency Override The EAS system is not in compliance with the Franchise Agreement. Although the EAS system is functional, local government emergency officials are not able to override the audio and video on all channels on the Cable System for emergency broadcasts or tests via remote activation (i.e. a telephone), as required in § 7.14.1 of the Franchise Agreement. The minimmn requirements for EAS system operation .are outlined in the FCC rules and regulations. These regulations detail a testing procedure and the documentation required to be held by the cable operator. The EAS eqnipment for Palo Alto consists of an independent Sage Endec decoder and Intermediate Frequency (IF) switching of all Palo Alto analog channels. No provision is made 6 for local EAS control of the system. Digital EAS is provided by force tuning the General Instrument/Motorola converters to an analog channel using a General Instrument OM 1000. Current EAS logs were maintained at the headend. 2.5 PEG Identification Public, Educational, and Governmental ("PEG") channels offered on the cable system include two channels for Government Access (Channels 26 and 29), two channels for Public Access (Channels 27 and 28), the Interactive Community Channel (Channel 30),. Channel 75 FTHLL (Foothill College), and the Stanford Channel (Channel 76). Most access programming is routed and switched at the CMAC center in Palo Alto. 2.6 Cable Modem Service Cable modem service is ~vailable in the Palo Alto system. Subscribers iri-Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton all have high-speed data service available. The data service is provided using Cisco UBR CMTS equipment at the Santa Clara headend. Currently two nodes are combined into one UBR input. Combining of nodes at the headend and segmentation of the nodes is available if additional spectrum is required for high-speed data services for customers. 2.7 Subscriber Services Subscriber services include basic and expanded basic services without a converter. Digital services, including premium services, pay-per-view, high definition, and additional programming all require digital converters. High-speed data serwces are available without subscriber television services. 7 III. 3,1 PERFORMANCE TESTING Test Standards Technical performance standards are defined by the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") (see 47 CFR §76.601). These roles establish minimum performance standards acceptable for cable system signal quality. The FCC standards and procedures originated in engineering practices established for traditional coaxial cable systems in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Given their age, they address only the operation of one-way analog cable TV services. The standards have not been updated to address the performance of contemporary fiber optic networks that offer two-way interactive services and digital teclmology. Further, the picture quality acceptable under these lninimum performance standards falls far short of what today’s typical viewer would deem satisfactory, particularly as compared to that provided by new technologies such as digital video over cable or satellite or by CD and DVD recordings. As a definitive testing platform, the FCC standards therefore are limited to only analog video systems. 3.2 Proof-of-Performance Test Review The FCC requires semi-annual testing of the system during a Proof-of-Performance (Proof) test described in CFR 47 §76.601. FCC Proofs require testing of signal levels for all channels of the system as well as signal-to-noise ratio, second and third order distortions or other coherent disturbances on a number of channels determined by the bandwidth of the system, and hum on a single channel. Frequency measurements of both carrier and separation are also required. Additional infolanation on the proof of performance test requirements is included in Appendix A. 3.3 Test Procedures CTC’s standard electrical test procedures include performance of a subset of the FCC Proof tests required by CFR 47 §76.’601 and described in Appendix A including carrier level variation, carrier-to-noise, distortion and hum tests, adjacent channel difference, video-to-audio, and video carrier levels. 3.4 Test Equipment Carrier levels were measured using a Stealth Track Analyzer,. serial number 0073520 and the remaining measurements were made with a Hewlett Packard HP8591C spectrum analyzer, serial number SN3916A03457. The Stealth was used to measure video signal levels, audio signal levels, video-to-audio ratio, overall channel level variation, and adjacent channel level variation on every analog channel. The spectrum analyzer was used to measure distortion, carrier-to-noise and hum on eight channels covering the frequency spectrum used for analog cable service At each test point, CTC subjectively evaluated picture quality for clarity, noise, and beats. Visual inspection of pictures was completed using a standard Taso rating. During our testing, all tests points and the headend received Taso grades of 1 for all channels. The following Taso grades were used: Grade 1 Excellent Quality Picture is of extremely high quality. No perceptible interference. Grade 2 Fine Picture is of high quality providing enjoyable viewing. Interference is perceptible. Grade 3 Passable Picture is of acceptable quality. Interference is not objectionable. Grade 4 Marginal Picture is poor quality. Interference is somewhat objectiofiable. Grade 5 Inferior Picture is very poor, but watchable. Definitely objectionable interference present. Cable System Test Point Locations Headend 3450 Garrett Drive, Santa Clara Test Point 1 3852 La Donna, East PaloAlto Test Point 2 1206 Garden, Palo Alto Test Point 3 100 Riordan, Menlo Park Test Point 4 88 Irving, Atherton 3.5 Test Result Findings Electrical testing of the subscriber cable plant was conducted at the headend and four locations in the cable plant. Two test points were chosen to compare FCC proof-of-performance tests with current system operation. Visual observations of the reception were conducted using a standard television and digital converter. Test measurements were made without interrupting channels. Typically, results obtained with in-service measurements are slightly worse than measurements made by removing channels and modulation. All signal measurements at the headend and each test site exceeded FCC requirements. Summarized test results are included below: WORST CASE SYSTEM MEASUREMENTS BY SITE PARAMETER TP Address Min. Visual Level Max. Visual Delta Carrier/Noise Low Frequency Disturbance Adjacent Carrier Delta Audio/Video delta Distortion Signal Leakage TP 1 3852 La Donna East Palo Alto 7.3 dBmV 8.2 dB 44.8 dB .9% 1.5 dB TP 2 1206 Garden Palo Alto 6.6 dBmV 5.6 dB . 45.1 dB 1.0% 2.9 dB TP 3 100 Riordan Menlo Park 19.3 dBmV 2.3 dB 48.2 dB 1.1% 1.3 dB TP 4 88 Irving Atherton 16.0 dBmV 5.7 dB 46.9 dB 1.2% 1.3 dB AVERAGE 12.3 dBmV 5.5 dB 46.3 dB 1.1% 1.8 dB 16.9 dB 16.8 dB 16.9 dB 16.8 dB 16.9 dB -66.5 -65.3 dB -66.5 dB -66.1 dB ~66.1 dB Not Measurable ¯ Not Measurable Not Measurable Not.Measurable Not Measurable SYSTEM WORST CASE MEASUREMENTS COMPARED TO FCC REQUIREMENTS PARAMETER LOCATION DATA FCC PAS S/FAIL REQUIREMENT Min. Visual Level 1206 Garden 6.6 dBmV 0 dBmV Min.PASS Max. Visual Delta 3852 La Donna 8.2 dB 12 dB Max.PASS Carrier/Noise 3852 La Donna 44.8 dB 43 dB Min.PASS Low Frequency 88 Irving 1.2%3% Max.PASS Disturbance Adjacent Carrier 1206 Garden 2.9 dB 3.0 dB Max.PASS Delta Audio/Video delta 100 Riordan 16.9 dB 17 dB Max PASS Distortion 1206 Garden -65.3 dB -51.0 dB Max PASS Signal Leakage All Sites Not Measurable 20uV/M PASS Appendix C contains the data collected frolll the spectrum analyzer and the analysis of the measurements taken with the Stealth meter at each t(st point. 10 IV.PHYSICAL PLANT INSPECTION 4.1 Inspection .Procedures CTC conducted an inspection of approximately ten percent of Comcast’s cable television system in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton. The inspection was intended to determine the state of the existing physical trunk and distribution cables and equipment in the cities’ rights-of-way. CTC checked to see if system components had been properly installed and maintained to preclude accidents or service interruptions. We inspected to determine whether cable plant was in the proper order and appearance so as not to present a public nuisance. CTC also inspected to determine whether cable plant posed a potential safety hazard to the public, Comcast employees, and employees 0f the public utilities with which cable television plant shares space in the private and public rights-of-way. CTC also inspected to verify that, where there had been disturbances in the cable system construction or damage to property from construction, the areas ~ere properly restored or repa{red andthat all insta!lations were of a perlnanent nature. In preparing for the inspection, CTC selected ten percent of the plant in the franchise system on a random basis to enable a reasonable overview of the system. CTC attempted to conduct the inspection on a random basis and designed the sampling in order to enable a reasonable overview of the system. CTC’s experience indicates that this type of sampling results in a valid overall conclusion regarding the quality of construction and the state of the cable system, without necessitating a full system-wide inspection. A full inspection would entail °’walking-out" an entire system to identify each and every violation - a very costly and time-consuming process. Generally, the types of problems identified in randomly selected inspection sites are representative of the condition of the portions of the system that are not actually inspected. 4.2 Inspection Standards and Authority Construction and maintenance of cable systems are governed by two types of authority: (1) national and local standards and codes, and (2) generally accepted industry practices and procedures. These requirements are usually reiterated in the individual Operator’s construction manuals and policy. The cable system must abide by all national, state, and local codes and standards, as specified by §8.2.3 of the Franchise Agreelnent. CTC’s inspection was intended to Verify compliance with the following generally accepted sources of authority: National Electric Safety Code ("NESC"), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 2003 and California General Orders 95 and 128. These codes provide standards to protect against hazards from electrical systems and communications lines and sets out rules for construction, operation and maintenance of communications and electrical lines and equipment; 11 4.3 National Electric Code ("NEC"), National Fire Protection Association, Inc., 2003 and California Safety Code ("CSC"). These codes establish rules for ensuring safety during the installation of electrical conductors and equipment; The Blue Book Manual of Construction Procedures, ("Blue Book"), Telcordia, 1998. This manual provides uniform procedures for construction of communications lines where there are telephone lines and equipment; Recommended Practices for Coaxial Cable Construction and Testing ("SCTE Construction"), Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, 1996. This publication, which is universally accepted within the cable industry, sets out unifon~a procedures and practices for the placement of aerial and underground cable television plant, equipment, and equipment housings; and From the Tap to Home: The SCTE Installation Manual ("SCTE Installation"), Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, ¯2001. This publication, which is also universally accepted within the cable industry, provides uniform procedures for service connection (drop) installation. Types and Numbers of Violations CTC’s inspection was organized according to a number of different categories of violations. Each category’s significance is explained below, with relevant citations. In addition, the total number of violations found in that category is noted. Specific data are included in Appendix D. 4. 3.1 Plant Violations." Bonding and Grounding The cable system must be bonded and grounded to reduce safety hazards such as electrical shock and arcing. Lightning strikes, power surges, and contact with electrical lines can create excessive electricity or surges on the system, which can result in electrical shock, electrocution, and dalnage to the cable plant and subscriber equipment. ¯ - Grounding is required for electrified system components and at specified locations along the plant itself. The cable system should be bonded to the other utility grounding system or it should be directly grounded. The requirements for bonding and grounding are provided in the following authorities: ¯NEC, Rules 820-10, 820-33,820-40; ¯Blue Book, Sections 10 and 20; and ¯NESC, Section 9. CTC documented 12 physical plant bonding and grounding violations. 12 4.3.2 Plant Violations: Lashing Wire In aerial portions of the cable system, the cables are attached to steel cables or "strand" that is bolted to the poles. A strong thin lashing wire is wrapped around both the cable and strand to secure the cable to its supporting strand. This practice places the weight of the cable on the strand rather than on the ’cable itself. Improper lashing can result in undue stress on the cable and connectors, potentially causing signal quality problems. If the lashing wire breaks and unravels, it usually causes the cable to fall from its supporting strand toward the ground, thereby reducing clearances over streets, driveways, or sidewalks and presenting hazards to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. This report documents violations such as improper, loose, or broken lashing, as established by the following source: SCTE, Sections 3.’12.5 and 3.i2.6. CTC’s inspector noted no lashing violations. 4.3.3 Plant Violations." Construction The construction category addresses the manner in which the cable system is built. Poor construction practices are evident in such violations as bolts of improper length, which, if too long, create hazards for personnel climbing the poles, or, if too short, fail to secure the cables to the poles. Other violations in this category include missing bolts; strand that is not attached to poles; strand that does not have the proper tension; cable supports and spacers that are missing or improperly installed; and equipment that is improper for the system. The violations docmnented in this report are based on practices and standards that are generally accepted within the industry. CTC noted no construction violations. 4.3.4 Plant Violations: Physical Clearances All cables on the utility poles and in the ground are required to be placed in a manner to avoid contact with one another. The codes establish acceptable distances between power, telephone, and other communications lines placed on the same poles and in the same area in the public right-of-way and public utility easements. Clearance requirements arise in part from significant safety concerns. Inadequate distance between cable television lines and power utility lines can result in elect}ical arcing between the two or in unwanted electrical current on the cable lines, which can cause fires, electrical shock or electrocution. In addition, improper clearance can cause workers to accidentally come in contact with high power electrical lines when working on the cable system, which can result in severe injury and death. Improper clearance can cause cable to rub together, deteriorating the cable’s protective covering and causing poor signal quality and even service outages. 13 The standards for physical clearance are established by the following authorities: o BlueBook, Section 3; ¯NESC, Part 2,Section 23; and ¯SCTE, Section 3.4. CTC noted one clearance violation. 4.3.5 . Plant Violations: Pedestal The pedestal is an enclosure for buried plant equipment, This category of violations addresses such issues as enclosures that are not installed correctly, are missing covers or doors, or do not have sufficient capacity for the equipment they contain. The requirements for pedestals are established by generally accepted industry practices as well as in the following source: SCTE Construction, Section 5. CTC’s inspector noted no pedestal violations. 4.3.6 Plant Violations." Guying In aerial construction, guy wires are necessary to provide additional support to the utitity pole where the weight of cables on the poles is greater than can be safely supported by the poles alone. Guy wires are not only required for poles that support a large number of cables, but also for poles supporting very long spans of cable, and on coruers or at EOLs where there is also additional weight on the poles. Missing or improperly installed guy wires can create a public safety hazard because of a greater potential for pole failure under stress from high winds, accidents, or pole degradation ovdr time. The steel cables used to guy the poles must be properly bolted to the poles and anchored in the ground at prescribed tensions. At ground level, the guy wire itself is required to be covered with a plastic "guard" .to alert passersby to the presence of the wire and protect against injury where persons may walk or run into the wire by accident. This report documents cases of slack guy wires, guys that may have been poorly bolted or anchored, and, in some case, missing guys. The requirernents for guy wire violations are documented as follows: Blue Book, Section 6; NESC, Rules 261B, 261C, 261D, and 264; and SCTE, Section 3.11. CTC documented four guying violations. 14 4.3.7 Plant Violations: Anchor An anchor is a device used to terminate a guy wire. The anchor supports the load on the pole and prevents such problems as poles breaking from the weight of the cable. The anchor category addresses such violations as anchors that are missing, loose, or installed incorrectly. These violations are of concern because they can create safety hazards. The requirements for anchors are documented in the following sources: ¯Blue Book, Section 8; and ¯NESC Section 261,263A-C, and 264. CTC’s inspector identified one. anchor violation in the portion of the plant inspected. 4.3.8 Plant Violations: Miscellaneous The general physical appearance and condition of the plant is evidence of the level of maintenance performed on the plant. Poor maintenance results in both immediate and future problems. For example, safety hazards to pedestrian traffic is created by cables that have come loose from supports, have become exposed on the ground, have broken, or havebeen cut but not repaired. To protect against damage to the cable’s protective sheathing, guards should be placed on cable where tree branches have grown to rub against the cable. The violations documented in this report are based on practices and standards that are generally accepted within the industry. CTC’s inspector noted five plant violations under the miscellaneous category. 4.3.9 Drop Cable Violations "Drops" are the wires that connect the subscriber’s house to the cable system on the street. Under the NEC, drops are required to meet certain standards for attachment to subscribers’ homes for clearance and for proper grounding to protect against electrocution, equipment damage, and fire hazards. Safety is a significant concern in the installation and maintenance of drops. For example, where a drop cable is attached to a home from a point between poles, or "midspan," a significant safety hazard is created if the cable is pulled too tight. A tightly pulled cable pulls the strand between poles out in a ,bow string" and places a strain on the point of attachment. Numerous serious . injuries have resulted from such a situation when an installer later cuts the bowstring cable and the cable snaps back. This problem is known as "cable out of line" or "bow string effect." 15 Standards for drop installation and maintenance are governed by generally accepted industry practices and by the following sources: Blue Book, Section 22; NESC Section 263E; SCTE Installation; and. NEC Section III 800.33, Section IV 800.40. CTC noted four drop violations. 4.4 Summary of Inspection Results A sunm~ary of CTC’s overall findings is as follows: 4.4.1 Plant Violations In the ten percent of plant inspected, the following 23 violations were identified: 12 vi01ations relating to bonding or grounding; No violations relating to construction standards; One instance in which requirements were not met for clearance between cable television cables and telephone cables, or clearance between cable television cables and the roadway; No violations related to pedestal installation or maintenance; Five violations associated with both anchor (down) guys and overhead guys; and Five miscellaneous infractions. 4.4.2 Drop Violations Out of 11 drops inspected, the following violations were identified: Two drops inspected were not grounded properly; One I-Net drop was tied to a tree; and One location had disconnected drops hanging from the pole. 16 V.I-NET EVALUATION 5.1 I-Net Overview The I-Net, as installed, does not conform to the minimum requirements set out in the Franchise Agreement with regard to the routing of the fiber cables and the number of fibers associated with each I-Net facility. Further, two distinctly differing architectures have been emplo)ed in the . system construction. Originally, AT&T provided a design that linked each I-Net facility to the area hub site (City Hall) through a point-to-point cable containing six fibers linking each site "directly" to the hub site. This design architecture was reviewed by the City Staff prior to construction and accepted as the design approach by all parties. The fiber backbone areas are served by bundles of fibers in a larger cable referred to as "Busses." Comcast Busses A, B, and C conform with the approved AT&T design. Later in the project, Comcast unilaterally changed the design, without notification to the City, to substantially reduce the number of effective fibers in the system. The new architecture moved away from the original design of connecting every I-Net site directly to the hub site (City Hall) to a relay system in which each site communicates to a nearby adjacent site that in turn through leap frogs from site to site to get to the hub site. The Comcast architecture supporting Busses D and E only have three fibers going to an individual I-Net facility and three going out to the next facility. On the longest run in Buss E, 15 sites are connected in this daisy-chain configuration. Each site must remain in operation for the all sites on the link to function. This configuration is analogous to a chain of Christmaslights, where if one bulb switches off, every bulb behind it would also switch off. In temas of reliability, this approach is wholly unacceptable, as each I-Net site in the chain is potentially a point of failure. In contrast, Busses A, B, and C were built so that each site connects independently to the hub. A failure at any given site in Busses A, B, and C only effects that particular site. Further, the communications traffic is secure on the point-to-point link. Under the revised Comcast architecture, information would flow in series from one site to the next before reaching the hub site. Public, Educational, ’and Governmental (PEG) traffic, Public Safety records, and School traffic will be forced to share the same highway or require expensive interface equipment to secure the necessary isolation from other users. 5.2 I-Net Site Inspections I-Net installations inspected were typically uniform in construction. However, we noted clean- up problems such as missing fiber warning tags. One facility had the fiber drop tied tO a tree. Fiber patch panels were secured using tie wraps in East Palo Alto. In Palo Alto, the transition from outside plant was coinpleted using an outdoor splice case. No fiber path loss tests were conducted due to lack of fiber test,equipment available at Comcast. 17 5.3 Additional Design Information As provided by AT&T during the outset of the I-Net project, the network was originally designed to have four hub sites, including the Atherton City Hall, the Menlo Park City Hall, the East Palo Alto City Hall, and the Palo Alto City Hall. Each I-Net site would be connected with six fiber strands to one of these hub sites in a point-to-point configuration. The four hubs were to be interconnected by a six-fiber ring. Finally, each hub site would interconnect with the CMAC via two fiber strands that were independent of the fiber loop, and the CMAC would connect to the headend via two fiber strands. The Franchise Agreement requiressix fibers be built to each I-Net facility and that PEG origination points be interconnected to the CMAC and to the headend for bi-directional transfer of programming to the subscriber network As shown in Figure 1 (an I-Net schematic provided by Comcast), the current configuration of the I-Net meets some of the requirements of the original design. Two fibers connect each hub to the CMAC, and four fibers connect the CMAC to the Comcast headend. However, the original design of the I-Net required a six-fiber ring interconnecting the four City hubs. The schematic shows six fibers connecting Hub A to Hub C and Hub A to Hub D, with 4 fibers connecting Hub D and Hub E with an additional two in construction. However, there is no fiber connection between Hub E and Hub C, as was proposed in the original design. 18 Figure 1: I-Net Schematic (provided by Comcast) Palo Alto Hub I-nets ! / Hub C EPA 2 Fibers Between City Hubs & C’MAC Hub E Ather. As shown in Figure 2, the I-Net designs fdr-Busses A, B, and C, employ six discrete fiber strands providing a direct point-to-point connection between I-Net ~ites and their respective hubs. This implementation conforms to our understanding of the requirements of the Franchise Agreement, and is similar to the architecture used on the Institutional Networks that we have worked with throughout the country. However, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the I-Net designs for Busses D and E provide only three fibers coming in and out of each I-Net facility in a ring configuration. These designs do not conform to the Franchise Agreement or the original proposal submitted by AT&T. Detailed I-Net schematics of Busses D and E can be found in Appendix 19 Six4iber poir~t-to*p0int / I-NetSite t-Net Site Figure 2: I-Net Schematic of Busses A, B, and C Hub AfB ] PaloAIto / JHubC East PaleA~to . Six-fiber pc nt-to-point ~/" ~Site 8: Communlb/ connectlons.between .~~Deveiopmenl Center l-Net Sites in Buss NB:I-Net site and Hub~~*Silo 9: ~ecreali0n Center ~~*Sile I0; Senior OenterSite 53: Addison Elemenla~/[~ Site tl; Corporaiion Ya~ ~[~ Silo 14: Fire Statlon.#2 Site 2~: Belle Haven Polioe . ,~8ubsla~onI-Nel S~le [¯Site 23: Belie Haven Child Silo 54: Barren Park Elementary " ¯ Siti~ 55: BHoneS Elementary Site 56: Duveneck Elementary Site 57: E! Carmelo Elementary Site 5B: Escondido Elementary Site 59: Faitmeadow Elementary Site 60: Pale Verde Elemenetary Site 61: Hays Elementary Site 62: Hoover Elemenlary Site 63: Nixon Elementary Site 64: Ohlone Elementary Site 66: J0rdan Middle School Site 67: Stanford Middle School Silo 68: Gunn High School Site 69: Pale Alto High School Site ?0: District Office Site 80: Greendell Elementary / i-Net Site Developmerit Site 25’. Chrysler Ddve Pump Station Site 27: Palo Alto Inlemel Exchange Site 29: Belie Haven Silo 30: Brentwood Oaks Elementary Site 32: Costano Elementary Site 33: EaSt Pale Alto Char~er Site 35: Green Oaks School Site 36: Ronald Mcnair Intermediate Site 37: Mid Peniosula High School Site 40: Distticl Office Sffe 74: Fire S[atiol~ #77 Site 78: San Francisco 49or Academy 20 / City Manager Site 3 Holbrook Palmer Site 73 Fire Station Admin facilities office I Site 71 Fire Station #1 Figure 3: I-Net Schematic of Buss D Hub D ¯ Menlo Park, ~facilities Site 15 Menlo Park Library Menlo Park Counci~ ~Site 62 Schooli~..,~ ~ Site 38Site 37 WillowMenlo Oaks Oaks{ntermediate Elementary 21 Figure 4: I-Net Schematic for Buss E Site 2~1 Sharon La En tada ~; Middle school 22 VI.TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE FRANCHISE AGREEMENT The following conditions were outlined in § 7 (System Facilities, Equipment and Services) and § 24 (Open Access)ofthe Franchise Agreement between AT&T and the JPA. SECTION 7. SYSTEM FACILITIES; EQUIPMENT, AND SERVICES 7.1. Cable System Design and Functionality §7.1.1 (1) Cable System must use an optical fiber-to-the-node architecture or equivalent o Requirement met: The information provided by the cable operator indicates the subscriber system uses a hybrid fiber/coaxial design with 63 nodes connected by fiber and covering approximately 500 miles of plant. o .The information provided by the cable operator for the I-Net was presented to the City in August of 2002 in the forln of a system-level design proposal. §7.1:1 (2) No more than 760 Residential Dwelling Units (RDUs) per Node o Requirement met: Cable system has fewer than 760 RDUs per node. §7.1.1 (3) Sufficient fiber-to-the-node shall be constructed to allow segmentation of the node with no significant additional construction such that no more than 300 homes are required to share the return (upstream) bandwidth allocated for two-way services. o Requirement met: The fiber optic nodes are capable of return segmentation through the addition of fiber optic return laser modules in the nodes. §7.1.1 GHz (4) All active electronics will be 750 MHz, all passive components must be 1 Requirement met: Active electronics in the system have an upper bandwidth of 860 MHz; passive devices are rated for 1 GHz. (5) Cable system must be two-way activated Requirement met: Two-way cable modem service is available throughout the Pal© Alto subscriber network. §7.1.1 (6) Headend must be supported with 24-hour backup non-interruptible power supplies; Each node will have 3-hour backups; Hub sites and OTNs will have six- hour backups; Backups must activate automatically upon failure of utility service and revert automatically to Standby mode when utility service is restored; Power to the nodes must be monitored remotely © Requirement met: The headend facility is powered by a 65-kilowatt Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), redundant 48-volt DC power supplies, and a 500-kilowatt generator; all power supplies in the subscriber network have stand-by battery backup; power supplies are remotely monitored via the Cheetah status monitoring system. 23 §7.1.2 (4) Equipment must be installed so that all closed captioning programming received by the Cable System shall include the closed caption signal, provided that the closed caption signal is provided consistent with the FCC Standards. Equipment must be installed so that all local signals received in stereo or with secondary audio tracks (broadcast and PEG Access) are retransmitted in those same formats. o Requirement met: All broadcast processors currently carry closed captioning and secondary audio when provided by the broadcaster. Satellite equipment and modulators are capable of passing signals with minimal alteration of quality. §7.1.2 (5) Must deliver 78 channels of programming to subscribers o Requirement met." The subscriber system delivers 30 analog channels in the basic tier, 47 additional analog channels in the expanded basic tier, and additional channels in the premium and digital tiers. A total of 77 analog channels at the time of inspection were available to subscribersl 7,2. Interconnection §7.2.1 Current Interconlaection with Educational Providers. TCI shall continue to provide at least the level of interconnection that is in place on the effective date of this Agreement between the Cable System serving the Service Area and those conamunities contiguous to the Cable System on the effective date of this Agreement, including the DeAnza-Foothills Coimnunity College and Stanford University. o Requirement met: Service has been provided since the effective date of the Agreement. 7, 3 Institutional Network §7.3.2 PEG/Headend Links. TCI shall, at its expense, construct and maintain throughout the term of this Agreement, dedicated two-way activated fiber links between the Headend, the CMAC, and the other upstream PEG insertion points listed in Exhibit B. Each of these fiber links will be two-way activated with all necessary associated equipment to transmit and receive: (1) the upstrealn feed of PEG programming from each of tile PEG insertion points in Exhibit B to the CMAC (or to the Headend and from the Headend to the CMAC), and from the CMAC to the Headend for distribution downstream to Subscribers on the PEG channels; and (2) the downstream feed of all PEG channels and PEG programming from the Headend or the CMAC to each of the PEG insertion points in Exhibit B, so that any other Cable Communications System in the Service Area may interconnect at either the CMAC or any of the PEG insertion points in Exhibit B to obtain PEG channel programming to carry on such Operator’s system. Any switching and routing functions that are performed at the CMAC are the responsibility of the CAO. Requirement met: There are two fibers interconnecting I-Net hub sites with the CMAC, providing the upstream and downstream feed; there are four fibers 24 interconnecting the CMAC to the headend, providing distribution downstream to subscribers on the PEG channels. §7.3.3 I-Net Links. Tci shall, at its expense, construct and maintain throughout the term of this Agreement, six optical fibers connecting all of the public facilities listed in Exhibit C to the CMAC. o Requirement Not met: I-Net sites on Busses D and E connect via three optical fibers in a partial ring configuration; I-Net sites on Busses A, B, and C connect via six optical fibers. Six fiber ring connecting hubs have not been completed. §7.3.5 If in the future the City wishes to have the Institutional Network extended beyond that which is set forth herein, TCI agrees to charge on a time and materials basis for the construction of such additional Institutional Network plant. o Ongoing Requirement: This requirement can be triggered at any point throughout the life of the Franchise. 7.4 System Design Review Process. §7.4.1 At least sixty days prior to the comnaencement date of construction of the upgrade and!or rebuild required by Section 7.1, TCI shall, subject to Section 19.2 hereof, provide a Cable System design and construction plan and timeline, which shall include at least the following elements or their contemporary equivalent: (1) Design type, fiber and coaxial cable design, and the then-planned or known number and location of hubs and nodes. ¯Requirement met: This inforlnation was reviewed by the City and CTC. (2) Distribution system-cable, fiber, equipment to be used. ¯ Requirement met: This information was reviewed by the City and CTC. (3) Plans for standby power at the Headend, hubs and nodes, and Satellite terminals (stating the make, model number and duration capacity of equipment to be used). o Requirement met: This information was reviewed by the City and CTC. (4) Longest amplifier cascade in the Cable System (number of amplifiers, number of miles, type of cable/fiber). ° Requirement met: This information was reviewed by the City and CTC. (5) Design of the Cable System shown on maps of industry standard scale using standard symbols, depicting, to the extent then known, all electronic and physical features of the cable plant. ° Requirement met: This information was reviewed by the City and CTC. 7. 7 Other Construction Procedures. TCI shall: §7.7.3 Provide quarterly construction reports to the City of the status of the rebuild and/or upgrade in a form reasonably acceptable to the City; 25 ¯ ® o Requirement met: The City received construction reports at least quarterly throughout the upgrade. §7.7.6 Provide as-built and design maps in an electronic format agreeable to the City and any of the Joint Powers, on request, after the completion of construction in any area within the Service Area; and o Requirement pending confirmation by City: Fulfillment of this obligation is pending completion of the construction of the cable system. It is CTC’s understanding that Comcast does not maintain and have available as-built and design maps in electronic format. §7.7.7 Make available to the City, upon request, maps showing the actual location of additions or extehsions to its lines within thirty days of completion of construction in any.area within the Service Area. o Requirement pending confirmation by City: Fulfilhnent of this obligation is pending completion of the construction of the cable system. 7.11 Public, Educational and Governmental Use. §7.11.1 PEG Access Channel Capacity. TCI shall continue to provide five downstream channels for PEG Access (exclusive of any channel "SVCC .Channel" provided by TCI to SVCC pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement between TCI and Co-op). o Requirement met: Current PEG Channels available on the Subscriber network include two government access chalmels, a community channel (referred to as the SVCC Channel in the Franchise), two public access channels, the Foothill College channel, and the Stanford Channel. §7.11.1 After the upgrade is completed, a minilnum of six downstrealn channels for PEG Access (exclusive of the SVCC Channel) shall be provided. Thereafter, pursuant to the trigger mechanism set forth to Section 7.11.2, up to a maximum of ten analog channels (exclusive of the SVCC Channel) or twenty (exclusive of the SVCC Channel) digital video channels shall be made available for PEG use. o Requirement met: Current PEG Channels available on the Subscriber network include two government access channels, a connnunity channel (referred to as the SVCC Channel in the Franchise, two public access channels, the Foothill College channel, and the Stanford Channel. §7.11.1 (1) PEG Channels. Each channel shall consist of 6 MHz of spectrum until such time as all other channels on the Basic Service tier are delivered in a digital format, at which time the access channels must be converted to a digital format as provided in Section 7.11.1(2) below. When such digital conversion of PEG Access channel capacity occurs, the spectrum available on the Cable System for PEG Access use shall be sufficient to transmit twenty digital channels (exclusive of the SVCC Channel), subject to the PEG Access triggers specified in Section 7.11.2. o Requirement pending: Current PEG channels are analog channels; no conversion to digital format has occurred. 26 §7.11.5 Cable Drops for PEG Locations. TCI shall install, without charge, one drop for the highest level of Basic Cable Service and one drop for a two-way interactive data connection to any educational institution, including, but not limited to, Schools, within the Service Area, designated PEG Access facility(g), and government buildings that are either (1) currently served with a cable drop or (2) within 200 feet of the nearest point or the Cable System. Upon request, TCI shall install a drop to any educational institution, designated PEG Access facility(s) or government buildings failing to meet either’ of the standards in (1) or (2) for a charge not exceeding TCI’s reasonable time and materials charges or costs associated with extending the drop beyond 200 feet from the nearest point on the Cable System. o Requirement pending: CTC does not have information regarding drops to PEG locations or schools. This matter will be dealt with in a separate performance monitoring report being prepared by the Buske Group for the Triennial Review. §7.11.6 Cable Modem Equipment. In deploying and offering any Intemet access service after completion of the System rebuild, TCI shall provide to all public schools and public libraries meeting the installation standard specified in Section 7.11.5 and without charge and without offset against the franchise fee owed to the City by TCI under this Agreement, one free cable modem and free unlimited access to both the Intemet and TCI’s affiliated cable modem service. o Requirement pending: CTC does. not have infomaation regarding drops to schools or libraries. This matter will be dealt with in a separate performance monitoring report being prepared by the Buske Group for the Triennial Review. Z 14 Emergency Alert System. §7.14.1 TCI shall install and anaintain an emergency alert system ("EAS") in conformance with FCC regulations. The EAS shall be remotely activated by telephone and shall allow an authorized representative of each of the members of the Joint Powers to override the audio and video on all channels on the Cable System that may be lawfully overridden, without the assistance of TCI, for emergency broadcasts from a location designated by each Joint Powers member in the event of a civil emergency or for reasonable tests. Testing of the EAS shall occur at times that will cause minimal Subscriber inconvenience. o Requirement Not met: No provision is made for local EAS control of the system. The system meets national specifications outlined in the FCC roles and regulations. 27 APPENDIX A ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS Technical perfomaance tests are conducted to verify the perfornaance of the cable system in accordance with technical standards set by the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") in 47 CFR §76.605 and requirements of the governing franchise agreement. Major elements of these standards are described in the following paragraphs. System Frequency Response measures the cable system’s continuity and quality by comparing the signal levels as they are originated from the headend with levels measured along the cable path. In an ideal system if each channel is input into the system with the same level, at the measurement location the levels on each channel will maintain the same relative position. However, system components such as anaplifiers, canes, and taps do not increase or reduce signal levels on a uniform basis. As a cable television amplifier cascade lengthens, any frequency response variations over the total system bandwidth are compounded. The frequency response is measured as the decibel level (dB) difference between the highest and lowest amplitudes on the system, or dB "peak-to-valley", as referenced to the headend. There is no specific FCC regulation that requires frequency response tests. However, an indication of the actual frequency resp6nse can be obtained by evaluating the system parameters described in the following paragraphs. Visual Carrier Level Variation is the difference, in decibels, between visual carrier levels of two channels. If the carrier levels between channels on the system vary greatly, the channels can interfere with one another. The overall carrier level variation is measured between the highest and lowest carrier levels across the analyzed spectrum. The lneasurement of the visual carrier levels can be accomplished without introducing signals onto the system. The maximum permitted carrier level variation for a 300 MHz system is 10 dB with an additional dB permitted for each additional 100MHz. The adjacent carrier level variation is the difference in carrier levels between two adjacent channels within a 6MHz frequency separation. The maximum adjacent carrier level variation permitted by the FCC is 3 dB. Video to Audio Ratio is the difference in decibels between the video carrier level and the audio carrier level for a channel, which must be maintained between 10 and 17 dB below the associated visual carrier for the channel: Higher audio carrier levels can cause distortions and interfere with the video signal. Carrier-to-Noise Measurement (C/N) Excessive noise can result from system operating levels that are not properly adjusted, or from improperly operating equipment. As cable signals pass through cascaded amplifiers, each amplifier contributes a small amount of noise to the signals. The carrier-to-noise measurement allows evaluation of the amplifier cascade up to the test location. The carrier-to-noise is required by the FCC to be greater than 43 dB. Signal Level-to-Coherent Disturbances is the measured difference in decibels between the video carrier level and unwanted signals caused by non-linearity of mnplifiers. In a cable system, the signals transnfitted on separate channels can combine to form interference in the form of coherent distortions, of "beats". Composite Triple Beat (CTB) and Composite Second Order (CSO) are types of distortion resulting from the mixing of signals from different channels. The strength of the "beat" distortion is increased if the amplifier gain is set too high. The ratio of the carrier signal to the distorting signal must not be !ess than 47 dB in a system with harmonically related carrier (HRC) channel assignments or 51 dB for standard frequency assignments. If the distorting signal level is higher, wavy lines or bars may appear on the channel. Hum Modulation is an interference with the signal from power line frequencies (60 Hz and 120 Hz) or any other low frequency modulations. The maximum variation in signal levels caused by hum must not exceed 3 percent of the visual signal level. If the hum exceeds the requirement, it may cause black and white horizontal bars across the picture. APPENDIX B HEADEND AND I-NET INSTALLATION PICTURES ALTO ] INSTITUTIONAL INSTALLATIONS CMAC FACILITY C~C FIBER. PATCH APPENDIX C TEST RESULTS CABLE CHANNEL 2 3 4 5 6 14 15 1-6 17 18 19 20 21 22 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 4O 41 42 The Palo Alto headend in Santa Clara was measured on Saturday August 2, 2003 AURAL AURAL/CABLE LEVEL VISUAL CHANNEL (dBmV)DELTA VISUAL LEVEL (dBmV) VISUAL LEVEL (dBmV) (dB) 11.2 14.9 43 10.7 15.4 44 12.1 14.3 45 11.0 15.4 46 12.2 13.8 47 11.1 15.3 48 13.8 12.6 49 10.3 15.9 50 12.1 14.2 51 12.5 14.2 52 12.3 13.7 53 12.4 13.7 54 11.8 14.6 55 13.6 13.3 56 11.2 15.0 57 12.3 14.4 58 12.6 13.8 59 12.3 14.2 60 12.6 13.5 61 11.1 15.4 62 12.3 14.3 63 11.8 14.6 64 12.1 14.6 65 13.2 13.2 66 15.3 11.2 67 11.6 15.0 68 11.9 14.6 69 12.8 13.9 70 12.8 13.6 71 12.3 14.1 72 12.7 13.9 74 12.3 14.5 75 11.6 14.6 76 11.7 14.6 77 11.8 14.6 78 11.5 14.5 81 12.4 14.2 82 11.8 15.0 135 12.1 14.4 26.4 26.3 26.7 26.3 26.0 26.3 26.9 26.4 26.6 26:4 26.4 26.2 26.1 26.1 26.3 26.4 26:1 26.3 26.0 26.7 26.3 26.0 26.2 26.5 26.0 26.4 26:4 25.9 26.1 25.8 25.7 26.1 26.1 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.0 26.3 26.1 26.1 26.4 26.4 26.0 26.4 26.4 26.2 26.3 26.7 26.0 26.1 26.4 26.9 26.2 26.7 26.4 26.5 26.1 26.5 26.6 26.4 26.7 26.4 26.5 26.6 26.5 26.7 26.4 26.4 26.6 26.8 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.0 26.6 26.8 26.5 AURAL LEVEL (dBmV) 11.8 12.2 11.9 12.5 11.6 11.7 11.9 11.8 12.0 11.1’ 12.0 11.6 12.3 11.6 12.1 11.0 12.1 12.1 11.4 11.5 10.4 12.5 12.6 12.4 10.9 12.5 12.2 1~1.4 11.8 12.0 12.3 12.1 13.9 11.8 10.2 12.3 11.7 11.6 AURAL/ VISUAL DELTA (dB) 14.6 14.1 14.8 13.8 14.4 14.6 15.0 14.6 14.6 15.3 14.4 14.6 13.8 14.5 14.2 15.4 14.0 14.2 14.6 15.2 15.9 13.5 13.6 14.1 15.1 13.9 14.2 14.5 14.3 13.8 13.4 14.0 12.2 14.2 15.9 13.9 14.3 14.7 VISUAL OBSERVATION OF HEADEND PICTURE QUALITY The Comcast headend signal quality was observed on Monday, August 4, 2003 CABLE CHANNEL 2 3 4 5 6 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 TASO GRADE 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 PROGRAM KTVU KNTV KRON KPIX KICU KDTV TDC KKPX KCSM KSTS KTNC KFSF KCNS C SPAN KGO KTSF KQED KTEH KTV GIDE CSPAN2 KTLN GOV ACC COMACC LO ACC GOV ACC PUB ACC HSN KMTP QVC FOOD FX TNT ESPN ESPN 2 FSBA TBS USA FAULTS CABLE CHANNEL NONE 43 NONE 44 NONE 45 NONE 46 NONE 47 NONE 48 NONE 49 NONE 50 NONE 51 NONE 52 NONE 53 " NONE 54 NONE 55 NONE 56 NONE 57 SLIGHT NOISE 58 NONE 59 NONE 60 NONE 61 NONE 62 NONE 63 NONE 64 NONE 65 NONE 66 NONE 67 NONE 68 NONE 69 NONE 70 NONE 71 NONE 72 NONE 74 NONE 75 NONE 76 NONE 77 NONE 78 NONE 81 NONE 82 NONE 135 NONE TASO GRADE 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 N.A. PROGRAM MTV VH1 TNN LIFE A&E BRAVO AMC TLC ANIMAL FAM NICK TOON DISNEY CNN CNN HN CNB C FOX N MSNBC TWC HIST COMDY E! COURT HALL WGN SCI FI INT BET TRAVL TV LAND EWTN FOOTH STAN PREV LEASD ACC .OUT GOLF PILOT FAULTS NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE N.A. TEST POINT 1:3852 La Donna This test point was measured on Monday August 4, 003 Signal level measurements were made through a standard RG-6 drop cable. This location is a standard FCC proof test point. The following tables list the parameters tested. CABLE CHANNEL 2 3 4 5 ’ 6 14 15 ]9 20 21 22 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 VISUAL LEVEL (dBmV) 7.3 8.1 8.6 8.4 8.6 7.9 8.0 -8.2 8.7 8.7 8.5 8.3 9.0 8.6 7.7 8.0 8.6 8.5 8.7 10.3 9.7 9.3 10.1 10.6 10.4 10.5 10.5 10.8 11.1 11.1 11.4 11.5 11.3 12.8 12.9 12.3 11.6 12.2 12.6 TEST RESULTS TPI: 38532 La Donna AURAL LEVEL (dBmV) -7.6 -7.5 -6.1 -7.5 -6.0 -8.3 -5.4 -5.6 -5.5 -6.9 -5.3 -7.0 -6.0 -6.6 -6.8 -5.9 -7.2 -6.2 -6.2 -5.5 -4.2 -2.0 -4.9 -5.0 , -3.9 -3.8 -3.8 -3.5 -3.2 -3.8 -4.2 -3.7 -3.2 -2.2 -2.8 -2.8 -3.1 -2.7 -3.3 AURAL/ VISUAL DELTA (dB) 14.9 15.6 !4.7 15.9 1416 16.2 13.4 13.8 14.2 15.6 13.8 15.3 15.0 15.2 14.5 13.9 15.8 14.7 14.9 15.8 13.9 11.3 15.0 15.6 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.9 15.6 15.2 14.5 15.0 15.7 15.1 14.7 14.9 15.9 VISUAL CARRIER NOISE (dB) 44.8 46.0 45.7 45.6 47.3 45.5 48.1 49.4 DISTORTION (DBC) 69.2 68.1 66.5 71.9 68.2 67.3 66.7 67.6 LOW FREQUENCY DISTURBANCE (%) 0.6% 0.7% 0.9% 0.6% 0.8% 0.8% 0.4% 0.9% CABLE CHANNEL 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 72 74 75 76 77 78 .81 82 135 VISUAL LEVEL (dBmV) 11.9 11.8 12.0 12.4 11,7 11.9 11.8 12,0 12.2 12.5 12.1 12.0 12.4 12.2 12.3 12.7 13.0 12.9 12.6 12.7 13.2 13.1 13.1 13.3 12.8 13.2 14.1 14.0 14.6 14.8 15,4 15.0 15.5 17.5 AURAL LEVEL (dBmV) -2.8 -3.5 -3.5 -3.4 -3.5 -3.3 -3.8 -3.1 -3.4 -2.5 -2.9 -2.5 -3.7 :2.3 -2.0 -2.7 -2.8 -4.0 -1.7 -1.0 -0.9 -3.3 -1.6 -1.8 -1.9 -0.9 0.0 -0.6 1.4 0.0 -1.2 1.2 0.2 2.0 AURAL/ VISUAL DELTA (dB) 14.7 15.3 15.5 15.8 15.2 15.2 15~6 15.1 i5.6 15.0 15.0 14.5 16.1 .14.5 14.3 15.4 15.8 16.9 14.3 13.7 14.1 16.4 14.7 15.1 14.7 14.1 14.1 14.6 13.2 14.8 16.6 13.8 15.3 15.5 VISUAL CARRIER NOISE (dB) DISTORTION (DBC) 48.9 70.0 .7% LOW FREQUENCY DISTURBANCE (%) TEST RESULTS TPI: 3852 La Donna WORST CASE MEASUREMENT DATA MEASUREMENT CH LEVEL Lowest Visual Carrier 2 7.3 dBmV. Highest Video Carrier 82 15.5 dBmV. Maximum Visual Carrier Delta 2-82 8.2 dB. Worst Adjacent Carrier Delta 39-40 1.5 dB. Worst Carrier to Noise 2 44.8 dB. Worst Low Frequency 14 .9% Disturbance . Worst Distortion 14 66.5 dB. Audio/Video Delta 63 16.9 dB. FCC LIMIT 0 dBmV N.A. 12.0 dB. 3.0 dB. 43 dB. 3% 51.0 dB. 17 dB. MAX PASS/FAIL PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS TEST POINT 1 PICTURE Notes: The aerial plant tap was 23-4 No drop, construction, safety or cable leakage infractions were found at this site. Visual observation noted no change in reception compared to the head end. TEST POINT 2:1206 Garden This test point was measured on Monday, August 4, 2003. Signal level measurements were made through a standard RG-6 drop cable. The following tables list the parameters tested. CABLE CHANNEL 2 3 4 5 6 14 15 19 20 21 22 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 23 25 26 27 28 29 3O 31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 4O 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 CABLE VISUAL LEVEL (dBmV) 7.3 8.1 8.6 8.4 8.6 7.9 8.0 8.2 8.7 8.7 8.5 8.3 9.0 8.6 7.7 8.0 8.6 8.5 8.7 10.3 9.7 9.3 10.1 10.6 10.4 10.5 10.5 10.8 11.1 11.1 11.4 11.5 11.3 12.8 12.9 12.3 11.6 12.2 12.6 11.9 11.8 VISUAL AURAL LEVEL (dBmV) "-7.6 -7.5 -6.1 -7.5 -6.0 -8.3 -5.4 -5.6 -5.5 -6.9 -5,3 -6.0 -6.6 -6.8 TEST RESULTS TP2:1206 Garden AURAL/VISUAL VISUAL CARRIER DELTA NOISE (dB)(dB) 14.9 46.1 15.6 14.7 15.9 47.4 14.6 16.2 47.3 13.4 13.8 14.2 15.6 46.2 13.8 15.3 15.0 15:2 48.4 14.5 -5.9 13.9 15.8 -6.2 14 7 -6.2 14.9 -5.5 15.8 , 45.1 -4.2 13.9 -2.0 11.3 -4.9 15.0 -5.0 15.6 -3.9 14.3 -3.8 14,3 -3.8 14.3 -3.5 14.3 49.2 -3.2 14.3 -3.8 14.9 I DISTORTION (DBC) 66.9 70.1 68.0 70.5 69,8 66.6 72.5 LOW FREQUENCY DISTURBANCE (%) .7% .8% 1.0% .5% .9% 1.0% .4% -4.2 15.6 -3.7 15.2 -3.2 14.5 -2.2 15.0 -2.8 15.7 50.7 71.0 .8% -2.8 15.1 -3.1 !4.7 -2.7 14.9 -3.3 15.9 -2.8 14.7 -3.5 15.3 AURAL AURAL/VISUAL DISTORTION LOW FREQUENCY CHANNEL 48 49 5O 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 72 74 75 76 77 78 81 82 135 LEVEL (dBmV) 12.0 12.4 11.7 11.9 11.8 12.0 12.2 12.5 12.1 12.0 12.4 12.2 12.3 12.7 13.0 12.9 12.6 12.7 13.2 LEVEL (dBmV) -3.5 -3.4 -3.5 -3.3 -3.8 -3.1 -3.4 -2.5 -2.9 -2.5 -3.7 -2.3 -2.0 -2.7 -2.8 -4.0 -1.7 -1.0 -0.9 13.1 .-3.3 13.1 -1.6 13.3 -1.8 12.8 -1.9 13.2 -0.9 14.1 0.0 14.0 -0.6 14.6 1.4 14.8 0.0 15.4 -1.2 15.0 ’ 1.2 15.5 0.2 17.5 2.0 VISUAL CARRIER DELTA NOISE (dB)(dB) 15.5 15.8 15,2 15.2 15.6 15.1 15.6 15,0 15.0 14.5 16.1 14.5 14.3 15.4 15,8 16.9 -14.3 13.7 ¯ 14.1 16.4 , 14.7 ’ 15.1 " 14.7 14.1 14.1 14.6 13.2 14.8 16.6 13.8 15.3 4’?" .4 15.5 (DBC) 65.3 DISTURBANCE (%) .6% TEST RESULTS TP2:1206 Garden WORST CASE MEASUREMENT DATA MEASUREMENT CH LEVEL Lowest Visual Carrier 2 Highest Video Carrier 82 Maximum Visual Carrier Delta 2-82 Worst Adjacent Carrier Delta 27-28 Worst Carrier to Noise 25 Worst Low Frequency Disturbance 14 Worst Distortion 82 Audio/Video Delta 63 6.6 dBmV. 12.2 dBmV~ 5.6 dB. 2.9 dB. 45.1 dB. 1.0% 65.3 dB. 16.8 dB. FCC LIMIT 0 dBmV N.A. 12.0 dB. 3.0 dB. 43 dB. 3% 51.0 dB. 17 dB. MAX PASS/FAIL PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS TEST POINT 2 PICTURE Notes: The underground plant tap was 23-4 No drop, construction, safety or cable leakage infractions were found at this site. Visual observation noted no change in reception compared to the head end. Amplifier was not attached to ground. Ground was attached during test, TEST POINT 3:100 Riordan This test point was measured on Tuesday August 5, 2003. Signal level measurements were made through a standard RG-6 drop cable. The following tables list the parameters tested. CABLE CHANNEL 2 3 4 5 6 14 15 19 20 21 22 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 CABLE VISUAL LEVEL (dBmV) TEST RESULTS TP3:100 Riordan AURAL LEVEL AURAL/ VISUAL VISUAL CARRIER NOISE (dB) 48.2 51.9 52.8 51.4 52.8 DISTORTION (DBC) 70.3 71.1 67.6 89.7 70,8 66.5 73.4 LOW FREQUENCY DISTURBANCE (%) .6% 1,0% 1.1% .6% .7% 1.0% .3% 19.5 19.6 20.1 20.6 20.4 19.8 19.7 19.9 20.6 20.4 20.4 20.2 21.0 20.1 19.3 19.4 20.0 19.6 19.3 20.1 20.1 20.0 20.5 21.1 21.0 20.5 20.5 20.8 20.5 20.4 20.5 20.5 20.1 21.3 21.3 20.5 20.4 20.8 20.4 VISUAL (dBmV) 4.0 3.9 5.9 4.5 5.5 3.5 6.7 6.3 5.8 4.7 6.6 4.8 5.7 5.0 4.7 5.6 3.7 4.8 4.5 4.7 6.2 8.7 5.2 5.5 6.3 6.3 5.7 5.9 5.6 5.1 4.8 4.9 5.3 6.0 5.5 5.1 4.9 5.4 5.0 AURAL DELTA (dB) 15.5 15.7 14.2 16.1 14.9’ 16.3 13.0 t3.6 14.8 15.7 13.8 15.4 15.3 15.1 14.6 13.8 16.3 14.8 14,8 15.4 13.9 11.3 15.3 15.6 14.7 14.2 14.8 14.9 14.9 15.3 15.7 15.6 14.8 15.3 15.8 15.4 15.5 15.4 15.4 AURAL/ 51.0 VISUAL 78.0 DISTORTION .7% LOW FREQUENCY CHANNEL 46 47. 48 49 50 51 52 53 LEVEL (dBmV) LEVEL (dBmV) VISUAL CARRIER 19.8 20.0 19.9 20.6 20.0 20.0 20.0 20.0 5.5 4.8 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.7 3.8 4.4 DELTA (dB) 14.3 15.2 15.6 16.2 15.5 15.3 16.2 15.6 NOISE (dB) (DBC) 54 19.8 4.1 15.7 55 19.4 5.0 14.4 56 19.3 4.6 14.7 57 20.0 5.2 14.8 58 20.6 4.2 16.4 59 20.3 5.7 -14.6 60 20.7 5.8 14.9 61 20.0 5.0 15.0 6:2 21.0 4.9 16.1 63 20.8 3.9 16.9 64 20.4 5.8 14.6 65 20.1 " 6.5 13.6 66 2! .4 6.8 14.6 67 20.8 4,5 16.3 68 20.9 6.0’14.9 69 20.6 5.7 14.9 70 20.6 5.4 15.2 72 20.7 6.1 14.6 74 21.4 6.7 14.7 75 21.0 6.2 14.8 76 21.1 8.1 13.0 77 21.1 6.4 14.7 78 21.6 4.9 16.7 81 21.3 7.2 14.1 82 21.6 6.3 15.3 51.6 72.1 .5% 134 16.4 0.4 16.0 DISTURBANCE (%) TEST RESULTS TP3:100 Riordan WORST CASE MEASUREMENT DATA MEASUREMENT Lowest Visual Carrier Highest Video Carrier Maximum Visual Carrier Delta Worst Adiacent Carrier Delta Worst Carrier to Noise Worst Low Frequenc~¢ Disturbance Worst Distortion Audio/Video Delta CH LEVEL 3 19.3 dBmV. 82 21.6 dBmV. 2-82 2.3 dB. 65-66 1.3 dB. 2 48.2 dB. 14 1.1% 25 " 66.5 dB. 63 16.9 dB. FCC LIMIT 0dBmV N.A. 12.0 dB. 3.0 dB, 43 dB, 3% 51.0 dB. 17 dB. MAX PASS/FAIL PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS TEST POINT 3 PICTURE Notes: The underground plant tap was 11,8 No ch’op, construction or cable leakage infractions were found at this site. Visual observation noted no change in reception compared to the head end. The Tap was not grounded. Site was marked for addition of ground. TEST POINT 4:88 Irving This test point was measured on Tuesday August 5, 2003. Signal level measurements were made through a standard RG-6 drop cable. The following tables list the parameters tested. CABLE CHANNEL .2 3 4 5 6 14 15 19 20 VISUAL LEVEL (dBmV) 21.0 21.2 21.7 21.6 21.3: 20.1 20.0 19.6 20.2 TEST RESULTS TP4:88 Irving AURAL LEVEL (dBmV) 5.7 5.6 7.2 5.3 6.3 3.8 6.7 5.5 5.4 AURAL/ VISUAL DELTA (dB) 15.3 15.6 14.5 16.3 15.0 "26.3 13.3 14.1 14.8 VISUAL CARRIER NOISE (dB) 50.1 50.8 51.4 DISTORTION (DBC) 71.1 76.3 72.4 LOW FREQUENCY DISTURBANCE (%) .6% .7% 1.2% 21 22 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19.9 ,4.2 19.8 6.0 19.6 ,4.2 20.3 5.0 19.6 i 4.6 18.5 4.2 18.8 4.8 19.5 2.9 18.6 3.2 15.7 13.8 15.4 15.3 15.0 14.3 14.0 16.6 15.4 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 CABLE 17.9 19.5 19.1 18.6 19.7 20.5 19.9 19;9 19.9 20.0 20.0 19.9 19.7 19.2 19.0 19.4 20.4 19.5 18.7 19.4 19.1 18.6 VISUAL 14.4 15.2 13.8 11.0 15.4 15.5 14.2 14.4 14.9 14.9 15.0 15.5 15.6 14.9 14.6 15.0 16.3 .16.1 15.5 15.7 15.9 14.9 AURAL/ 54.2 54.7 46.9 50.5 51.9 71.3 I ’.5% 73.5..6% .9% I .5% ,5% VISUAL DISTORTION LOW FREQUENCY CHANNEL 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 LEVEL (dBmV) 18,1 17.9 18.5 17.9 17.4 17.5 17.4 16.9 17,4 17.3 17,3 18.1 17.7 17,9 17.8 18.4 18.0 17.5 LEVEL (dBmV) VISUAL CARRIER (DBC) 2.7 2,7 2.4 2.2 2.0 1.1 2,1 1,7 2.7 2,2 2.7 1.8 3,0 3,3 2.5 2.5 1.2 2.9 DELTA (dB) 15.4 15.2 16.1 15.7 15.4 16.4 15.3 15.2 14.7 15.1 14.6 16.3 14.7 14.6 15.3 15.9 16.8 14.6 NOISE (dB) DISTURBANCE (%) 65 ’17.2 66 18.5 67 17.6 68 17.6 69 17,4 70 17.2 72 16,9 74 17.3 75 16,6 76 16,6 77 16.0 78 16,5 81 16,3 82 16,5 134 16.0 3,4 3.8 1.1 .2.7 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.5 1.7 3.2 1.3 0.1 1.7 0.9 0,5 13,8 14.7 16.5 14.9 15.1 15.0 14.5 14.8 14,9 13,4 14,7 16.4 14.6 15,6 ’ 15.5 48.8 66.1 TEST RESULTS TP4:88 Irving WORST CASE MEASUREMENT DATA MEASUREMENT CH Lowest Visual Carrier 77 Highest Video Carrier 4 Maximum Visual Carrier Delta 2-82 Worst Adjacent Carrier Delta 65-66 Worst Carrier to Noise 25 Worst Low Frequency Disturbance 14 Worst Distortion 82 Audio/Video Delta 63 LEVEL 16.0 dBmV. 21.7 dBmVi 5,7 dB. 1,3 dB. 46.9 dB. 1.2% 66.1 dB. 16.8 dB. FCC LIMIT 0 dBmV N,A. 12,0 dB. 3.0 dB. 43 dB, 3% 51.0 dB. 17 dB. MAX PASS/FAIL PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS TEST POINT 4 PICTURE Notes: The underground plant tap was 11-2 No drop, construction, safety, o~ cable leakage infractions were found at this site. Visual observation noted no change in reception compared to the head end. "ON o~,o4d ..,-04 co .,to co ~t,..co Jaq10 pesodxq a3ueJee’o uo~lellelSUl malqOJd ON 6~punoJg/~u~puo£ ~alqoJdON ~ ~~O~OZ 0 ~ ~ o o o o o 8 o o 8 8 ~le~seped ,z 0 oa~ou!~8 8 8 8~ ~ ~ ~~0 8o o o 8 8 o 8 8 8 8 *ON oloqd Je410 pesodxBaoueJeel0 uo!~ellelSUl m~lqo~d ON ..... ~elqoJ~oN 0 0 o o ~ o S S o o o o o ~ o8$88 o8 8 88o88o0 0 0 0 lelSOpod aguBJ~al 0808808 88 888 oO~~ 0 0 0 0 0 000 uoqonJ~suoO o o’o 8888’o 888 88~~~0 0 0 Oi 0 O ~ ~u’~o8 o S88888888~~~ ~0 0 oo~oo~ PICTURES OF PHYSICAL INSPECTION OF PLANT GRO~D OVERHEAD GUY N0 GROUND SLACK GUY & NO GROUND NO ANCHOR ORGROUND POWER DROP ON CABLE TV PICTURE 6 EOL NO GROUND PICTURE 7 RISER NO GROUND PICTURE 8 FIBER NOT 1N SNOW SHOES PICTURE 10 POWER SUPPLY INSTALLATION PICTURE 9 FIBER COILED NOT SUPPORTED PICTURE 11 CABLE LOOP ABOVE POWER SUPPLY PICTURE 12 MISSING GUY GUARD PICTURE 13 CABLE DROPS LOOSE HANGING 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DROP GROUNDING PICTURES PICTURE 1 GROUNDED TO WATER LINE PICTURE 2 FIBER CABLE TIED TO TREE PICTURE 3 GROUNDED TO WATER LINE PICTURE 4 LOOSE DROPS APPENDIX E DETAILED I-NET SCHEMATICS FOR BUSSES D AND E Figure 5: I-Net Schematic for Buss D (provided by Comcast) Hub D Three Fibers Linking Site to Site Thi’ec fibcrs looped back through sheath / Figure 6:.I-Net Schematic for Buss E (provided by Comcast) Hub E IThree fibers lo’oped b~ck through the sheath [ Figure 7: I-Net Signal Flow Diagram for Buss D MENLO PARK CITY HALL GXD30 HUB ,x CMAC LEGEND From Hub ~o Sites From Sites to Hub 2-Fiber Connection to CMAC Hub Interconnection Splice Enclosure Figure 8: I-Net Fiber Distance Diagram for Buss D GXD16 14,’72 ~1~2,674’ MENLO PARK CITY HALL GXD18 i ~ D13 ] D15 -D12 GXD26 GXD29 GXD30 D71 1 ~HUB ~ ~A D52 D34 [ D38 to CMAC D45 F Figure 9: I-Net Signal Flow Diagram for Buss E GXE33 GXE31 ATHERTON "x~CITY HALL I --I GXE26 GXE19 GXE18 /V LEGEND From Hub to Sites From Sites to Hub 2-Fiber Connection to CMAC Hub lnterconnection l I 00 GXE’I t ~cMAc Splice Enclosure Figure 10: I-Net Fiber Distance Diagram for Buss E ATHERTON GXE35 CITY HALL GXD29 ~ HUB D .~3,818’ 1,36t’ ~ 3,510’ ) GXE33 GXE31 GXE26 GXE19 GXE18 3,013’ I E24 to CMAC APPENDIX F ABOUT COLUMBIA TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION Columbia Telecommunications Corporation (CTC) provides telecommunications engineering support to state and local governments as welt as public, non-profit, and educational institutions. For over 18 years, CTC has provided a wide range of technical planning, engineering design, and implementation support to clients throughout the United States in the following broad, evolving areas: (1) Network Planning, Design, and Implementation; (2) Cable System Technical Evaluation, including ¯System Inspection of Physical Plant, and ¯System Perfomaance Testing of Electrical Plant; ’i (3) Franchise Support, including ¯Technical Enforcement and Corrective Action Analysis, and ¯Negotiation Support; (4)Tower Siting Engineering and Analysis; (5)Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Telecommunications; and (6)Video/PEG Engineering. ATTACHMENT B City of Palo Alto Administrative Services Departme~t October 23, 2003 Divisions Ach~@*fisI-ra tion 650.329.2692 650.323.1741 fax Budget 650.329.2260 650.393.1741 fax information Technolo~, 650.329.2182 650.617.3109 fax ReN Es~:ate 650.329,~64 650.323,1741 fmx Finance 650.329,2264 650,323.1741 fax AccotmN3g 650.329.2264 6511.39_3.1741 fax Purchashag 650.329.2271 650.329.2468 f~x investments 6511.329.2362 650.323.8356 fax Revenue Collections 6511.320.2317 650.617.3122 fax Parking Citations 650.329.2252 Ms. Kathi Noe Director, Government Affairs and Franchising Comcast Cable Comnmnications, Inc. 1205 Ckrysler Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 Subject: Notice of Violation of Provisions of Franchise Agreement and City’s Municipal Code Dear Ms. Noe: As you know, the City hired Columbia Telecommunications Corp. ("CTC") to conduct an inspection, testing and analysis of Comcast’s cable system serving the Joint Power Authority ("JPA") communities to determine, among other things, whether Colncast has complied with cable system facilities, equipment and rebuild requirements of Comcast’s Franchise Agreement with the JPA communities. CTC has completed its review and prepared a report setting forth the results of its inspection, testing and analysis of the Cable system, entitled "Comcast Cable Television System Inspec6on and Testing Report, Palo Alto, California" ("CTC Report"). A copy of the CTC Report is attached hereto. The CTC Report identifies certain aspects of the cable system rebuild, and the resulting cable system faci.lities and equipment, that fail to comply with the requirements of the Franchise Agreement. Therefore, pursuant to Section 14.2 of the Franchise Agreement between the City and Comcast, the City hereby notifies Comcast of the apparent breaches of the Franchise Agreement and violations of Chapter 2.10 of the P.A.M.C. set forth below in the balance of this letter. The City requests that, within 30 days, Comcast respond to this Notice in accordance with Section 14.3 of the Franchise Agreement, demonstrating Comcast’s cure of each of the breaches and violations identified in this Notice and!or showing cause why the breaches and violations should not or cannot be cured. Printed with soy-based inks on 1110% recycled paper processed wiflmul chlorine P.O. Box 10250 Palo Alto, CA 94303 Ms. Kathi Noe -2-October 23, 2003 1. Plant Violations. P.A.M.C. § 2.10.050(h) requires that all cable system construction, operation, maintenance and repair be performed in compliance with, among other things, all applicable safety codes and construction standards. Sections 8.2.3-8.2.4. of the Franchise Aga’eement require that the cable system shall comply with, among other things, the National Electric Code ("NEC"), the National Electrical Safety Code ("NESC"), and all applicable federal, California and municipal construction requirements and codes. These, in turn, include (among other applicable requirelnents) California General Orders 95 and 128, the Blue Book Manual of Construction Procedures, the SCTE Recommended Practices for Coaxial Cable Construction, and the SCTE Installation Manual. The CTC Report identifies various violations of these standards based on the sample of plant inspected -- specit]eally, twelve violations relating to physical plant bonding and grounding,, one violation relating to physical clearance, five violations relating to guyihg ’find .anchoring, four violations relating to subscriber drops, and five violations relations to miscellaneous maintenance shortcomings contrary to generally accepted industt3~ practice. See CTC Report at Sections 4.3-4.4, pp. 12-16, and Appendix D. Please provide evidence of cure. In formulating an offer to cure, please consider Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is taking or plaus to take, and the specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default. 2. Removal of Abandoned Equipment. CTC’s inspection of Comcast system revealed that, in most inspected areas, Comcast has not removed old equipment that is no longer in use from the poles. See CTC Report at S..ection 1.1, p. 1. P.A.M.C. § 2.10.050(k), hp,~v.ever, requires a franchis~ee to remove all of ~ts abandoned prope~y in the righ}-of-way after giving the City written notice of its intention to abandon that property. With respect to the no-longer-used equipment remaining on poles m the right-of-way, Comcast has neither removed that equipment nor given the City notice of its intent to abandon it. Ms. Kathi Noe -3-October 23, 2003 Please provide evidence of cure.. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is talcing or plans to take, and the specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default. 3. Emergency Alert Capability. Section 7.14.1 of the Franchise Agreement requires that the cable system include an emergency alert system ("EAS") that has the capability to allow an authorized representative of each JPA member, via remote activation by telephone, to ovelTide the audio and video signals on the system without the need for assistance from Comcast. The CTC inspection discloses that, although Comcast’s system includes all EAS, it is not capable of allowing JPA representatives, without Comcast’s assistance, to override audio and video signals on the cable system’s channels via remote activation. See CTC Repor~ at § 1.1, p. t and § 2.4 at 6-7 Please provide evidence of cure. In formulating an offer of cure, please consider .Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is talcing or plans to take, and the specific timing of implemelatati0n of these actions, to cure the default. 4. Institutional Network. Section 7.3, as well as Exhibits B and C, of the Franchise Agreement set forth the requirements of the Institutional Network (°°I-Net") that the Franchise Agreement requires to be constructed and made operational in conjunction with the system rebuild required by the Franchise Agreement. As set forth in the CTC’ Report, the I-Net, as installed, does not conform to the I-Net requirements in Section 7.3.3 of the Franchise Agreement, both in terms of the routing of the fiber cables and the number of fibers associated with each I-Net site. The CTC Report sets forth in de~ail both’~he ways in which the I-Net, as constructed, fails to COlnply with the requirements Of the Franchise Agreement and the history behind the unexplained, and undisclosed, midstream change in I-Net system architecture made by Comcast after taking over the system from AT&T Broadband. We refer you to these portions of the CTC Report and Ms, Kathi Noe -4-October 23, 2003 incorporate them by reference here. See CTC Report at § 1.2 at p. 2, § 1.3 at p. 2, § 5 at pp. 17-22, and Appendix E. Please provide evidence of cure. In fornmlating an offer of cure, please consider Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agaeement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is taking or plans to take, and the specific timing of implemelatation of these actions, to cure the default. 5..System Rebuild Deadline. Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement provides that the system rebuild required by Section 7 ofthe Franchise Agreement must be COlnpleted within 36 lnonths of the effective date of the Franchise Agreement, or July 23, 2002. Because the system, as rebuilt, does not conform to several of the rebuild requirements of Section 7 of the Franchise Agreement -- specifically, those set forth above in Parts 1 ttn-ough 4 of this letter -- Comcast has failed to complete the system rebuild within the deadline set forth in Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement. Please provide evidence of cure. In formulating an offer of cure, please consider Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is talcing or plans to take, and the specific timing of the implementation of these actions, to cure the default. 6. Breach of AT&T/Comcast Franchise Transfer Resolution. On July 8, 2002, the City Council of Palo Alto adopted Resolution No. 8196 conseming, on behalf of the JPA cormnunities mad subject to certain conditions, to the transfer of control of the cable system serving the JPA communities from AT&T Corp. to AT&T Comcast Corporation (’°AT&T- Comcast"). Among the conditions for the consent granted by Resolution 8196 were that (1) the franchise transfer at issk~e not affect, diminish, impair or supercede the binding nature of the Franchise’ Agaeelnent, including without limitation the system rebuild deadline set forth in Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement; (2) the franchiseholder execute an acceptance (which it snbsequentty did execute) agreeing that any violation of the terms or Ms. Kathi Noe -5-October 23, 2003 conditions of Resolution 8196 constitutes a failure to comply with a material provision of the Franchise Agreement; and (3) AT&T-Comcast execute an acknowledgment (which it subsequently did execute) agu’eeing that it would not cause any direct or indirect subsidiary or affiliate that is a party to the Franchise Agreement to fail to abide by the Franchise Aga’eement and that it will abide by the terms and conditions of Resolution No. 8196. Comcast’s violations of the Franchise Agreement set forth in Pat~ 1 through 5 above of this letter therefore constit~tte violations of Resolution No. 8196 as well. And because violations of Resolution No. 8196 also constitute a failure to comply with a material provision of the Franchise Agreement, Comcast’s failure to abide by the terms and conditions of Resolution No. 8196 constitutes a separate and independent violation oft he Franchise Agn’eement. Please provide evidence of cure..In formulating an offer of cure, please consider Sections 16.7 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the con’ective actions it has taken~ is taking or plans to take, and the specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default. Again, the City expects that, within 30 days of the date of this letter, Comcast will respond to each of the apparent v~olations in this Notice in accordance with Section 14.3 of the Franchise Agreemem. Sincerely, David Ramberg Cable Franchise Manager Attachment:CTC Report cc: Comcast Franchising Department ATTACHMENT C SUMMARY OF FRANCHISE VIOLATIONS System Rebuild Deadline Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement provides that the system rebuild must be completed within 36 months of the effective date of the franchise, or by July 23, 2003. Because the rebuilt cable system does not conform to several key rebuild requirements in the Franchise Agreement, Comcast failed to meet this deadline. Breach of AT&T!Comcast Franchise Transfer Resolution On July 8, 2002, the Council adopted Resolution No. 8196 consenting to the transfer of control of the cable system from AT&T to AT&T Comcast Corporation, now known as Comcast, subject to certfiin conditions. Among the conditions for the consent agreed to by Comcast were that: 1) the transfer willnot affect, diminish, impair or supercede the binding nature of the Franchise Agreement, including without limitation the system rebuild deadline; and 2) any violation of the terms or conditions of Resolution 8196 constitutes a failure to comply with a material provision, of the Franchise Agreement. Institutional Network Section 7.3.1 of the Franchise Agreement requires the I-Net tobe constructed and made operational in conjunction with the upgrade of the cane system. Section 7.3.2 of the franchise requires Comcast to construct, maintain and equip the I-Net to provide two-way activation (ability to send and receive signals) at five hub locations. Section 7.3.3 of the Franchise Agreement requires Comcast to construct and maintain the I-Net with six optical fibers connecting 70 public facilities to the Community Media Access Center (Media Center). The I-Net constructed by Comcast does not conform to the requirements CMR:133:01 Page 1 of 3 in the Franchise Agreement, both in terms of the routing topology of the fiber optic cables and the number of fibers associated with each I-Net site. Specifically, the number of fibers that Comcast constructed in the portions of the I-Net serving Menlo Park and Atherton did not contain the six fibers required by the Franchise Agreement. In addition, the fiber has not been constructed in a network topology that is either consistent or compatible with the portions of the system constructed in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. The improperly constructed portion of the I-Net is at odds with the I-Net plan submitted to the Cit.y by AT&T Broadband, and Comcast did not disclose this change in the network design to the City after it took over the project from AT&T Broadband. AT&T reviewed the original I-Net system design with the City on April 2002 and August 2002. The design divided the I-Net into individual sub-networks or busses. Each buss supports a specific geographical area and the I-Net sites in those areas. In the initial construction phase, busses A (Palo Alto), B (Palo Alto), and C (East Palo Alto) were built with six independent fibers, connected to hub sites in a point-to-point configuration. These busses are in compliance with the Franchise Agreement. After taking over the system from AT&T Broadband, Comcast unilaterally modified the original system design topology in Menlo Park and Atherton without the consent of the City. In the D buss (Menlo Park) and the E buss (Atherton), the I-Net sites are not directly linked to the hub sites. Rather, three fibers :come into each site and then exit to the next site, Only one site in the chain directly connects to the hub site and through only three fibers. This design change affects 27 of the 70 sites, greatly reducing the capacity of the I-Net and creating security, reliability and maintenance issues. Emer~oency Override Capability Section 7.14.1 of the Franchise Agreement requires that the cable system include an emergency override capability that allows an authorized representative of each JPA member to override the audio and video signals of the system without the need for CMR: 133:01 Page 2 of 3 assistance from Comcast. The Comcast system does not support this requirement. The system does support the alerting requirements of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Emergency Alert System (EAS) requirements. Plant Violations The Palo Alto Municipal Code Section 2.10.050(a) requires that all cable construction be performed in compliance with applicable safety codes and construction standards. Sections 8.2.3 and 8.2.4 of the Franchise Agreement require-that the cable system shall comply with the California Electric Code, the National Electrical Safety Code and all applicable federal, state and municipal construction requirements and codes. The CTC inspec.tion identified a number of violations of standards based upon the sample of plant inspected. Specifically, there were twelve violations relating to the physical plant bonding and grounding, one violation relating to physical clearance, five violations relating to guying and anchoring,, four violations related to subscriber drops, and five violations related to maintenance shortcomings, contrary to generally accepted industry practice. Removal of Abandoned Equipment The Palo Alto Municipal Code Section 2.10.050(k) requires a franchisee to remove all of its abandoned property in the right-of-way after giving the City its written notice of its intention to abandon that property. Comcast has .equipment it no longer uses remaining on poles in the right-of-way. It has neither removed the equipment nor given the City notice of its intent to abandon it. CMR:133:01 Page 3 of 3 ATTACHMENT D ( omcasto Via Facsimile and US Mail November 21,2003 Comcast Cable Communications. ~nc 1205 Chrysler Drive Menlo Park. CA 94025 Tel: 650.289.6799 Fax: 650.326.! 707 ~wv,c0mcae[.corn David Ramberg Cable Franchise Manager City of Palo Alto P. O. Box 10250 Palo Alto, CA 94303 Dear Mr. Ramberg! - This correspondence responds to the City of Palo Alto’s October 23, 2003 correspondence regarding "Notice of Violation of Provisions of Franchise Agreement and City’s Municipal Code". 1. Plant Violations - The City’s October 23, 2003 correspondence states: "P.A.M.C. § 2.10.050(a). requires that all cable system construction, operation, maintenance and repair be performed in compliance with, among other things, all applicable safety codes and construction standards. Sections 8.2.3-8.2.4 of the Franchise Agreement require that the cable system shall comply with, among other things, the National Electric Code ("NEC"), the National Electrical Safety Code ("NESC"), and all applicable federal California and municipal construction requirements and codes. These, in turn, include (among other applicable requirements) California General Orders 95 and 128, the Blue Book Manual of Construction Procedures, the SCTE Recommended Practices for Coaxial Cable Construction, and the SCTE Installation Manual. The CTC Report identifies various violations of these standards based on the sample of plant inspected -- specifically, twelve violations relating to the physical plant bonding and grounding, one violation relating to physical clearance, five violations relatirig to guying and anchoring, four violations relating to subscriber drops, and five violations relations to miscellaneous maintenance shortcomings contrary to generally accepted industry practice. See CTC at Sections 4.3-4.4, pp. 12-16, and Appendix D. Please provide evidence of cure. In formulating an offer to cure, please consider Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the c.orrective actions it has. taken, is taking or plans to take, and specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default." Comcast Response: The alleged violations under Sections 8.2.3-8.2.4 of the Franchise Agreement do not apply to Section 16.2 of the Franchise Agreement, which states: "For failure to complete construction or extend Cable Service in accordance with this Agreement: $1,250 per day for each day the breach or violation continues". Comcast’s requirement under Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement states: "The Cable System upgrade and/or rebuild required under this Section 7.1 shall be completed no later than.thirty-six months after the effective date of this Agreement." Comcast completed construction and extended Cable Service on July 2.2, 2003, in accordance with the requirements in Section 7 of the Franchise Agreement. Mr. David Ramberg November 21,2003 Page Two Please note that four of the alleged violations at 614 Eighteenth Street, 616 Twelfth Street, 793 San Benito and 770 San Benito, are not located within the franchise boundaries of the Palo Alto JPA, but they have been corrected. Of the remaining alleged violations which are within the franchise area, all were corrected prior to Comcast receiving the October 23 "notice of violations" letter. Since Comcast completed its rebuild on time and has corrected all of the alleged violations that are relevant to the Franchise Agreement, it is in compliance with the requirements of the franchise. 2.Removal of Abandoned Equipment- The City’s October 23, 2003 correspondence states: "CTC’s inspection of Comcast system revealed that, in most inspected areas, Comcast has not removed old equipment that is no longer in use from the poles. See CTC Report at Section 1.1, p.1. P.A.M.C. § 2.10.050(k), I~owever, requires a franchisee to remove all of its abandoned property in the right-of-way after giving the City written notice of its intention to abandon that property. With respect to the no-longer-used equipment remaining on poles in the right-of-way, C6mcast has neither removed that equipment nor given the City notice of its intent to abandon it. Please provide evidence of cure. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is taking or plans to take, and the specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default." Comcast Response: Comcast has not and does not intend to abandon any plant or equipment in the public rights-of-way. All equipment no longer necessary for cable system operations has been removed from the rights-of-way. Any plant remaining on the former Cable Co-op "B" cable is being reused as necessary to maintain the upgraded system or will help meet future capacity needs. There are no corrective actions to be taken as there is no default. 3.Em~rqency Alert Capability- The City’s October 23, 2003 correspondence states: "Section 7.14.1 of the Franchise Agreement requires that the cable system include an emergency alert system ("EAS") that has the Capability to allow an authorized representative of each JPA member, via remote activation by telephone, to override the audio and video signals on the system without the need #or assistance from Comcast. The CTC inspection discloses that, although Comcast’s syst#m includes an EAS, it is not capable of allowing JPA representatives, without Comcast’s assistance, to override audio and video signals on the cable system’s channels via remote activation. See CTC Report at § 1.1, p. 1 and § 2.4 at 6-7. Please provide evidence of cure. In formulating an offer of cure; please consider Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is taking or plans to take~ and the specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default." Mr. David Ramberg November 21, 2003 Page Three ComcastResponse: Section 7.14.1 of the Franchise Agreement states that "TCI shall install and maintain an emergency alert system ("EAS") in conformance with FCC regulations." Under applicable FCC regulations, EAS plans contain guidelines which must be followed by"... emergency officials and National Weather Service (NWS) personnel to activate the EAS." The plans include the EAS header codes and messages that will be transmitted by key EAS sources (NP, LP, SP and SR). State and local plans contain unique methods of EAS message distribution such as the RBDS. Th6 plans must be reviewed and approved by the Chief, Technical and Public Safety Division, Enforcement Bureau, prior to implementation to ensure that they are consistent with national plans, FCC regulations, and EAS operation. See 47 CFR § 11.21.. Section 11.21 goes on to state t.hat, "The Local Area plan contains procedures for local officials or the NWS to transmit emergency information to the public during a local emergency using the EAS." And, furthermore, that, "Local plans may be a part of the State plan." Comcast intends to comply with the requirement of the FranChise Agreement by allowing an "authorized representative of each of the members of the Joint Powers to override the audio and video.., without the assistance of TCI.,. for emergency broadcasts .... " However, as required by applicable FCC regulations (and subsequently the Franchise) the plan must be reviewed and approved by the Chief, Technical and Public Safety Division, in order to meet FCC guidelines. In addition, local plans may need to be reviewed and approved by the State Local Emergency Communications Commission (LECC), Once the City has demonstrated its compliance and approval with applicable FCC guidelines, including any applicable State approval, Comcast will make available the ability to broadcast local emergency messages without the "assistance of TCI [Comc.ast]." Please feel free to contact us to discuss this matter in greater. detail. 4.Institutional Network- The City’s October 23, 2003 correspondence states: "Section 7.3, as well as Exhibits B and C, of the Franchise Agreement set forth the requirements of the institutional Network ("l-Net") that the Franchise Agreement requires to be constructed and made operational in conjunction with the system rebuild required by the Franchise Agreement. As set forth in the CTC report, the l-Net, as installed, does not conform to the J-Net requirements in Section 7.3.3 of the Franchise Agreement, both in terms of the routing of the fiber cables and the number of fibers associated with each I-Net site. The CTC Report sets forth in detail both the ways in whlch the I-Net, as constructed, fails to comply with the requirements of the Franchise Agreement and the history behind the unexplained, and undisclosed, midstream change in I-Net system architecture made by Comcast after taking over the system from AT&T Broadband. We refer you to these portions of the CTC Report and incorporate them by reference here. See CTC Report at § 1.2 at p.2, § 1.3 at p.2, § 5 at pp. 17-22, and Appendix E. Please provide evidence of cure. In formulating an offer of cure, please consider Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Oomcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is taking or plans to take, and the specific timing of implementatior~ of these actions, to cure the default." Mr. David Ramberg November 21 2003 Page Four Comcast Response: Section 7.3.3 of the Franchise Agreement states: ’qCI shall, at its expense, construct and maintain throughout the term of this Agreement, six optical fibers connecting all of the public facilities listed in Exhibit C to the CMAC." As required, Comcast has constructed six optical fibers connecting all of the-public facilities listeG in Exhibit C to the CMAC. The Franchise Agreement includes no other design specifications, nor does it require a fiber ring between sites. The I-Net Comcast has constructed is fully functional and meets all of the requirements of the Franchise Agreement. 5.System Rebuild Deadline- The City’s October 23, 2003 correspondence states: "Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement provides that the system rebuild reauired by Section 7 of the Franchise Agreement must be completed within 36 months of the effective date of the Franchise Agreement, or July 23, 2002 Because the system, as rebuilt, does not conform to several of the rebuild requirements of Section 7 of the Franchise Agreement -- specifically, those set forth above in Parts 1 through 4 of this letter-- Comcast has failed to complete the system rebuild within the deadline set forth in Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement. Please provide evidence of cure: In formulating an offer of cure, please consider Sections 16.2 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is taking or plans to take; and the specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default." Comcast Response: Comcast completed the upgrade of the Palo Alto cable system as required on July 22, 2003. Comcast is in compliance with the franchise. 6. Breach of AT&T/Comcast Franchise Transfer Resolution - The City’s October 23, 2003 correspondence states:. "On July 8, 2002, the City Council of Palo.AIto adopted Resolution No. 8196 Consenting, on behalf of the JPA communities and subject to certain conditions, to the transfer of control of the cable system serving the JPA communities from AT&T Corp. to AT&T Comcast Corporation ("AT&T-Comcast"). Among the conditions for the consent granted by Resolution 8196 were that (1) the franchise transfer at issue not affect, diminish, impair or supercede the binding nature of the Franchise Agreement’, including without limitation the system rebuild deadline set forth in Section 7.1.3 ofthe Franchise Agreement; (2) the franchiseholder execute an acceptance (which it subsequently did execute) agreeing that any violation of the terms or conditions of Resolution 8196 constitutes a failure to comply with a material provision of the Franchise Agreement; and (3) AT&T-Comcast execute an acknowledgment (which it subsequently did execute) agreeing that it would not cause any direct or indirect subsidiary or affiliate that is a party to the Franchise Agreement to fail to abide by the Franchise Agreement and that it will abide by the terms and conditions of Resolution No. 8196. Comcast’s violation~ of the Franchise Agreement set forth in Part 1 through 5 above of this letter therefore constitute violations of Resolution No. 8196 as well. And because violations of Resolution No. 8196 also constitute a failure to comply with a material provision of the Franchise Agreement, Comcast’s failure to abide by the terms and conditions of Resolution No. 8196 constitutes a separate and independent violation of the Franchise Agreement. Mr. David Ramberg November 21,2003 Page Five Please provide evidence of cure. In formulating an offer of cure, please consider Sections 16.7 and 16.8 of the Franchise Agreement relating to liquidated damages. The City also asks that Comcast describe the corrective actions it has taken, is taking or plans to take, and the specific timing of implementation of these actions, to cure the default." Comcast Response: As demonstrated ’n our responses to Part 1 through 5 of the "notice of violations" letter, Comcast is in compliance with its Franchise Agreement and is not in breach of the AT&T/Comcast Franchise Transfer Resolution. The Company has respgnded to the alleged violations in its notice of October 23, 2003 within the 30 day timeline required in Section 14.3 of the Franchise Agreement. Sincerely, Kathi Noe Director, Governmenl Relations and Franchising ATTACHMENT E AdmiMstrative Services Depm’tment April 15, 2004 DMsions Ach~-k-ds ta’a tion 650,329,2692 650.3~.1741 fax Budge~ 650.329.2260 650.3~.1741 fax Irfforn-tafion Tedmology 650.329.2182 650.617.31{]9 tax Real Estate 65B.329.2264 650.3Z3.1741 fax Finance 650.329.2182 6%.3~.1741 hx Accounting 650,329.9v64 650,323,1741 fax Purchash~g 650.329.2271" 650.329.2468 fax lnves0nents 650.329.2362 6_~13,323.8356 tax Reveatue Collections 650.320.9_317 650.617.3122 fax PmkNgCita~ot~s 650.329.2252 Ms. Kathi Noe Director, Government Relations and Franchising Comcast Cable Cmrnnunications, Inc. 1205 Cl~a’ysler Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 Re: Notice of Admini~trative Hearing on Cable Franchise Violations Dear Ms. Noe: On October 23, 2003, the City sent Comcast Communications, Inc., a levter ("October 23 Notice") notifying it, pursuant to Section 14.2 of the Cable Television Franchise Agreement by and bet-ween the City and Comcast ("Franchise AN’eement"), of Comcast’s apparent violation of certain provisions of the Palo Alto Municipal Code and certain provisions of the Franchise Agreement pertaining to the cable system facilities and equipment and system rebuild requirements. (A copy of the October 23 Notice is enclosed.) On November 21, 2003, Comcast responded to the October 23 Notice ("November 21 Response"), taking the position that Comcast does not believe that it has violated the provisions of the Municipal Code and the Franchise Agreement set forth in the October 23 Notice. (A copy of Comcast’s November 21 Response is enclosed.) The City appreciates Comcast’s NOvember 21 Response to the October 23 Notice. In the view of City staff, however, Comcast’s November 21 Response does not adeqnate!y answer the apparent violations set forth in the October 23 Notice and sets forth no adeqttate plan for cure within the meaning of Section 14.4 of the Franchise Agreement. Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 14.4 and 14.5 of the Franchise Ayeement, the City hereby smwes notice on Comcast that the City will hold an administrative hearing concerning the apparent violations of the Municipal Code and the Franchise Agreement set forth in the October 23 Notice. The hearing will be held on .Monday, May 17, 2004 at 7:00 p.m., in the Council Chamber of the City of Palo Alto, 1.ocated at the Civic Center at 250 Hamilton Printed ~vith st}) ~as, d inks (~l~ 1110% recycled paper processed withmR chlorine RO. Box 10250 PNo Alto, CA 94303 Avelme in Palo Alto. Comcast, as well as other interested persons, will be given the opportunity to be heard at the hearing. Please direct any inquiries to the undersigned, Sincerely, David Rmnberg Cable Franchise Manager Enclosures:October 23 Notice November 21 Response cc (w/e!acls.):Franchise Department, Comcast Cable Con~nunicati0ns, Inc. 12647 Alcosta Boulevard Suite 200 San Ramon, CA 94583 -2- ATTACHMENT F ***NOT,YET APPROVED*** RESOLUTION NO. RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PAL0 ALTO .APPROVING A COMPROMISE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY. OF PALQ ALTO AND COMCAST OF CALIFORNIA IX,INC.,REGARDING COMCAST’S COMPLIANCE WITH CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS OF ITS CABLE FRANCHISE WITH THE CITY WHEREAS, the City of Palo Alto ("City") is a party to a certain Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement, dated July 26, 1983, and a certain Joint Operating Agreement, dated October 13, 1983, and under those agreements, the City is authorized to act on behalf of itself and the Town of Atherton, the City of Menlo Park, the City of East Palo Alto, the County of San Mateo, and the County of Santa Clara (collectively, "Joint Powers") to administer certain cable television franchise matters; and WHEREAS,.. on Hay 8, 2000, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 4636, amending Chapter 2.10 of the City’s Municipal Code concerning cable television systems and open video systems ("Chapter 2.10 of the Municipal Code" or "Chapter 2.10"); and WHEREAS, on July 24, 2000, the City granted TCi Cablevision of California, Inc., the predecessor-in-interes’t of Comcast of California IX, Inc. ("Comcast"), a cable television franchise (the ~Franchise"), the terms and conditions of such Franchise being set forth in a Cable Television Franchise Agreement By and Between the City of Palo Alto, California, on behalf of the Joint Powers, and TCI Cablevision of California, Inc., dated July 24, 2000 ("Franchise Agreement"); and WHEREAS, on July 8, 2002, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 8196, consenting to the transfer, of control of the Franchise from AT&T Corp. to AT&T-Comcast Corporation, subject to certain conditions ("Comcast Transfer Resolution"); and WHEREAS, by letter dated October 23, 2003, including an attached system inspection and testing report (hereinafter collectively, the "October 2003 Notice"), and pursuant to Section 14.2 of the Franchise Agreement, the City,on behalf of the Joint Powers, notified Comcast of its apparent violations of the fol!owing.provisions of Chapter 2.10 and the Franchise: (i) certain failures to comply with cable plant construction standards and applicable safety codes, in violation of 2.10.050(a) of Chapter 2.10 and §§ 8.2.3-8.2.4 of the Franchise Agreement; (2) failure to remove certain old, apparently unused, 041116 cl 0072468 1 ***NOT YET APPROVED*** equipment from the poles, in violation of § 2.10.050(k) of Chapter 2.10; (3) failure to provide an all-channel emergency audio and video override capability, in violation of § 7.14.1 of the Franchise Agreement; (4) failure to construct and make operational an institutional network ("I-Net") that conforms to the requirements of § 7.3.3 of the Franchise Agreement; (5) as a result of the violations noted ±n (i) through (4) above,. Comcast’s failure to complete the cable system rebuild by July 23, 2002, in violation of § 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement; and (6) as a result of the violations noted in (i) through (5) above, Comcast’s failure to comply with the conditions set forth in the Comcast Transfer Resolution, which in turn is a violation of the Franchise Agreement pursuant to the terms of the Comcast Transfer Resolution (collectively, the "October 2003 Notice Violations"); and WHEREAS, the October 2003 Notice further requested that, within 30 days, Comcast respond to ~ach of the October 2003 Notice Violations, including evidence of cure, taking into account the applicable liquidated damages provisions in Section 16 of the Franchise Agreement; and WHEREAS, by letter dated November 21, 2003, Comcast responded to the October 2003 Notice, denying each of the October 2003 Notice Violations and, with respect to the cable plant construction and safety code violations set forth in the October 2003 Notice, stating that those violations had been corrected; and WHEREAS, pursuant to Sections 14.4 and 14.5 of the Franchise Agreement, the City noticed and scheduled a hearing befor~ the City Council on the October 2003 Notice Violations for May 17, 2004, which hearing was subsequently deferred to provide additional time for City staff and representatives of Comcast to attempt to resolve the dispute concerning the October 2003 Notice Violat±ons; and WHEREAS, the parties wish to resolve their differences concerning the October 2003 Notice Violations, and both believe they have reached a mutually acceptable settlement of their claims and defenses relating to the October 2003 Notice Violations. // // 041116 cl 0072468 2 ***NOT YET APPROVED*** NOW, THEREFORE, the Council of the City of Palo Alto does RESOLVE as follows: SECTION i. The Council hereby approves the Compromise and Settlement Agreement between the City and Comcast, which settles and resolves the parties’ dispute concerning the October 2003 ’Notice Violations. SECTION 2. The Council hereby authorizes the City Manager to sign the Compromise and Settlement Agreement, in the form attached hereto as Exhibi~ "A", on behalf of the City of Palo Al~o. SECTION 3. The approval and authorization granted by Sections 1 and 2 hereof is conditioned on Comcast’s acceptance and execution of the Compromise and Settlement Agreement within thirty (30) days of the date that this Resolution is adopted. SECTION 4. The Council finds that this is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act and, therefore, no environmental impact assessment is necessary. INTRODUCED AND PASSED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTENTIONS: ATTEST: City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: Hayor APPROVED: Senior Asst. City Attorney City Hanager Director of Utilities Director of Administrative Services 041116 cl 0072468 3 EXHIBIT A COMPROMISE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT This Compromise and Settlement Agreement ("Agreement"), dated , 2004, is made and entered into by THE CITY OF PALO ALTO, a charter city and a municipal corporation (~City"), and COMCAST OF CALIFORNIA IX, INC., a California corporation ("Comcast") [collectively, or individually as appropriate, "Party" or "Parties"], in reference to the following facts and circumstances: RECITALS: i. The City is a party to a certain Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement, dated July 26, 1983, and a certain Joint Operating Agreement, dated October 13, 1983. Under those agreements, the City is authorized to act on behalf of itself and the Town of Atherton, the City of Menlo Park, the City of East Palo Alto, the County of San Mateo, and the County of Santa Clara (collectively, "Joint Powers") to administer certain cable television franchise matters. 2. On May 8, 2000, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 4636, amending Chapter 2.10 of the City’s Municipal Code concerning cable television systems and open video systems ("Chapter 2.10 of the Municipal Code" or "Chapter 2.10"). 3.On July 24,2000, the City~ granted TCI Cablevision of California,Inc., Comcast’s predecessor-in- interest, a cable television franchfse (the "Franchise,),: the terms and conditions of such Franchise being set forth in a Cable Televisi’on Franchise Agreement By and Between the City of Palo Alto, California, on behalf of the Joint Powers and TCI Cablevision of California, Inc., dated July 24, 2000 ("Franchise Agreement"). 4. On July 8, 2002, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 8196, consenting to the transfer of control of the Franchise from AT&T Corp. to AT&T-Comcast Corporation, subject to certain conditions ("Comcast Transfer Resolution"). 5. By letter dated October 23, 2003,including an attached system inspection and testing report (hereinafter, collectively, the ~October 2003 Notice"), and pursuant to Section 14.2 of the Franchise Agreement, the City,on behalf of the Joint Powers, notified Comcast of its apparent violations of the following provisions of Chapter 2.10 and the Franchise: (i) 041116 cl 0071903 certain failures to comply with cable plant construction standards and applicable safety codes, in violation of § 2.10.050(a) of Chapter 2.10 and §9 8.2.3-8.2.4 of the Franchise Agreement; (2) failure to remove certain old, apparently unused, equipment from the poles, in violation of § 2.10.050(k)of Chapter 2.10; (3) failure to provide .an all-channel emergency audio and video override capability, in violation of § 7.14.1 of the Franchise Agreement; (4) failure to construct and make operational an institutional network ("I-Net") that conforms to the requirements of § 7.3.3 of the Franchise Agreement; (5) as a result of the violations noted in (i) through. (4) above, Comcast’s failure to complete the cable system rebuild by July 23, 2002, in violation of § 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement; (6) as a result of the violations noted in (i) through (5) above, Comcast’s ..failureto comply with the conditions set forth in the Comcast Transfer Resolution, which in turn is a violation of the Franchise Agreement pursuant to the terms of the Comcast Transfer Resolution (collectively, t~e "October 2003 Notice Violations"). The October 2003 Notice further requested that, within 30 days, :Comcast respond to each of the Odtober 2003 Notice Violatiois, including evidence of cure, taking into account the applicable liquidated damages provisions in Section 16 of the Franchise Agreement. 6’.By letter dated November 21, 2003, Comcast responded to the October 2003 Notice, denying each of the October 2003 Notice Violations and, with respect to the cable plant construction and safety code violations set forth in the October 2003 Notice, stating that those violations had been corrected. 7. Pursuant to Sections 14.4 and 14.5 of the Franchise Agreement, the City noticed and scheduled a hearing before the City Council on the October 2003 Notice Violations ~for Hay 17, 2004, which hearing was subsequently deferred. During the period before and after this deferment, City staff and.representatives of Comcast met repeatedly in an attempt to resolve their differences concerning the October 2003 Notice Violations. 8. City staff and Comcast have reached agreement on what they believe are fair, mutually acceptable terms and conditions to compromise and settle their differences concerning the October 2003 NOtice Violations.. 9. The City Council, on behalf of the Joint Powers, has determined that the proposed settlement of the October 2003 Notice Violations is in the public interest and represents a 041116 cl 0071903 fair compromise and settlement of the City’s claims set forth therein. AGREEMENT: NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the covenants, terms and conditions of this Compromise and Settlement Agreement, the Parties agree as follows: i0 This Agreement consists of a compromise and settlement by the Parties of the City’s claims against Comcast set forth in the October 2003 Notice. By executing this Agreement, each of the Parties intends to and does hereby extinguish the claims now existing between them relating to the October 2003 Notice. This Agreement is not, and shall not be treated as, an admi~ssion of liability by eitherParty for any purpose, and this Agreement is not intended and ~should not be construed as a settlement or release of any claims other than those set forth in the October 2003 Notice. 2. In consideration of the City’s fulfillment of its obligations set forth in Paragraph 3 hereof, Comcast agrees to fulfill the following obligations: A. Within eight (8) months of the Effective Date (as defined in Paragraph 21 hereof) of this Agreement, Comcast shall install dedicated fibers from each of the twenty- seven (27) I-Net sites set forth in Attachment 1 hereto (which is incorporated herein and made a part hereof) to their respective hubs on the D and E busses of the I-Net in the locations and fiber counts set forth in Attachment i. B. Within eight (8) months of the Effective . Date of this Agreement, Comcast shall install a dedicated, six (6) fiber link between the C hub and the E hub on the I-Net along the route specified in Attachment 2 hereto (which is incorporated herein and made a part hereof). C. Comcast shall notify the City in writing of its timely completion of the obligations set forth in Paragraphs 2(A) and 2(B) of this Agreement] D. Comcast shall be responsible, throughout the remaining term of the Franchise, for maintaining the fiber facilities that it installs pursuant to Paragraphs 2(A) and 2(B) hereof in a manner consistent with its obligation to maintain the I-Net facilities under Section 7.3 of the Franchise Agreement. 041116 c10071903 " E. Within six (6) months of the Effective Date of this Agreement, and contingent upon each Joint Powers member’s participation as described later in this paragraph, Comcast shall activate for each member of the Joint Powers the capability to override remotely, without Comcast’s assistance, the video and audio on all video channels on Comcast’s cable system in the event of an emergency. Prior to activatingthis emergency override capability, Comcast shall provide the City with a written explanation of the technology it is using and how it works, the City shall have the opportunity to comment on it, and Comcast shall consider the City’s comments in installing and activating the emergency override capability. Prior to Comcast’s activation of the emergency override capability, each Joint Powers member will provide Comcast in writing the name of the individual(s) authorized to trigger the override for that Joint Powers member, and the City, on behalf of the Joint Powers, and Comcast will jointly develop a set of criteria establishing appropriate use of the override capability. F!~ Within six (6) months of the Effective Date of this Agreement, Comcast will purchase and deliver all of the equipment (~I-Net Equipment") set forth in Attachment 3 hereto (which is incorporated herein and made a part .hereof) for use by Joint Powers area schools in connection .with their use of-the I- Net. The Parties agree to consult with one another in good faith to revise the specificmodels of I-Net Equipment set forth in Attachment 3 to substitute any updated versions of the models of I-Net Equipment listed. Comcast agrees to pass on to the schools the benefits of any promotional in-kind equipment, such as jumper cables, racks or back-up power supplies~, that manufacturers of the I-Net Equipment are willing to provide free of charge as part of a purchase of the size of the one required by this Paragraph.. G. Within thirty (30) days of the Effective Date of this Agreement, Comcast shall pay to the~City the sum of One Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand Dollars ($175,000.00) as an unrestricted technology grant, to be used as the City sees fit in its sole discretion. H. Within thirty (30) days of the Effective Date of this Agreement, Comcast will provide an affidavit from a duly authorized representative of Comcast confirming that (i) the plant construction and safety code violations set forth in the October 23 Notice have been rectified, land (ii) none of the cable plant on the utility poles identified in the October 23 Notice as abandoned has in fact been abandoned by Comcast. 041116 ct 0071903 4 3. In consideration of Comcast’s fulfillment of its obligations set forth in Paragraph 2 hereof, the City, on behalf of the Joint Powers, agrees to fulfill the following obligations: A. Effective upon Comcast’s payment to the City Of the sum set forth in Paragraph 2(G) of this Agreement, the City, on behalf~ of the Joint Powers, and for the Joint Powers members’ supervisors, councilmembers, officers, boards, commissions, agencies, employees, agents, successors and assigns, releases and forever discharges Comcast, its directors, officers, shareholders, employees, affiliates, agents, successors and assigns, from any claims, causes of actions and demands, at law or equity, arising out of the October 2003 Notice and the October 2003 Notice Violations, except for the rights and obligations specifically created ~by and under this Agreement. This release shall not apply, however, to any violations of the Franchise Agreement or of chapter 2.10 arising before or after the effective date of this Agreement that are not included in the October 2003 Notice. B. At an appropriate time to be mutually agreed-upon by the City and Comcast, the Parties will issue a joint press release announcing the settlement embodied in Zhis Agreement. The Parties will mutually agree on the final form and content of the press release, which will generally include the following points about the settlement: i) That the settlement includes a major financial commitment from Comcast to the schools in the Joint Powers’ cable franchise service area to provide them with a state-of-the-art internal telecommunications network to help improve educational opportunities for s~udents; 2) That Comcast is enhancing the Joint Powers members’~ I-Net to provide them with ~advanced functionality and capacity that will lead to improvements in efficiency and services to citizens; 3) That the Parties view the settlement as a meaningful and positive step toward developing a productive partnership with each other in the future; and 4) Quotes from a City official and a Comcast executive acknowledging each other’s contributions to the resolution of this matter and the importance of fostering an improved working relationship in the future. C. Upon receipt of Comcast’s notice of completion pursuant to Paragraph 2(C) hereof, the City shall° have ninety (90) days to inspect and test the System for compliance with this Agreement. If the City concludes that deficiencies remain, then the remedial procedures described in Section 14 of the Franchise Agreement shall govern. If the City does not complete an inspection within ninety (90) days, or 041116 cl 0071903 determines that Comcast has satisfied its obligations under Paragraphs 2(A) and 2(B), the City shall provide written acknowledgment that Comcast has complied in full with the thirty six-month deadline for completing the System rebuild and upgrade set forth in Section 7.1.3 of the Franchise Agreement. 4. Because Comcast’s failure to comply with certain provisions of this Agreement will cause the Joint Powers, including the City, to sustain damage, and because the Parties agree that it will be difficult to estimate the extent of such damage, the Parties hereby agree that the liquidated damages specified below shall represent the Parties’ reasonable estimate of the damages resulting from Comcast’s failure to comply with the Agreement provisions specified below. Comcast waives any claim or defense that the liquidated damages that may be assessed under this Agreement are unenforceable as a penalty or on the basis that they do not .fairly approximate the actual damages caused by Comcast’s default or breach or violation of the Agreement provisions specified below. Comcast. further agrees that the iiquidated damage amounts represent the damages to the City and are collectible by and payable to the City. A. For failure to comply with any material requirement of Paragraphs 2(A), 2(B), 2(C) or 2(F) hereof: One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($1,250) per day for each day the breach or violation continues. B. For failure to comply with any material requirement of Paragraph 2(H) hereof: One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150) per day for each day the breach or violation continues. C. For all other material breaches or violations of this Agreement for which actual damages are not readily ascertainable: One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150) per day for each day the breach or vioiation continues. D. In imposing liquidated damages on Comcast pursuant to the terms of this Agreement, the City shall comply with the applicable notice and procedure provisions, including opportunity to cure, in Section 14 of the Franchise Agreement. 5. All remedies provided under this Agreement, the Franchise Agreement, or Chapter 2.10 shall be cumulative, unless otherwise expressly stated. The exercise of one remedy shall not foreclose use of another (except that the City may not collect both liquidated damages and actual damages for the same violation unless California law allows otherwise), nor shall the City’s exercise of a remedy relieve Comcast of its obligations 6 041116 cl 0071903 to comply with this Agreement. Remedies may be used singly or in combination; in addition, the City may exercise any rights it has at law or in equity. 6. Comcast shall not be deemed in default or breach of a provision of this Agreement where, and only for so long as, performance was rendered impossible by war, riots, civil disturbance, hurricanes, floods, other natural catastrophes~, labor disputes, or similar events beyond Comcast’s control, provided Comcast takes immediate and diligent steps to bring itself back into compliance and to comply as soon as possible under the circumstances with this Agreement without unduly endangering the health, safety, and integrity ~of Comcast’s employees or property, or the health, safety, and integrity of the public, streets, public property, or private property. 7. Time is of the essence with respect to the obligations of the Parties and each of them. 8. Except as Section 7.3.3 and Exhibit C of the Franchise Agreement are modified by Paragraphs 2(A) and (B of this Agreement, the Franchise Agreement shall remain in full force and effect without change. 9. When is appears from the context that several acts are to be performed at the same time, each such act shall be a condition precedent to the remaining acts and all such acts shall be performed concurrently, as practicable. i0. If a court (or arbitrator) of competent jurisdicti0n~ holds any section~ paragraph or clause of this Agreement to be invalid.or unenforceable, in whole or in part, for any reason, the validity and enforceability of the remaining sections, paragraphs, clauses, or portions.of them, shaIl not be affected, unless a material element of the consideration of this Agreement would be defeated by the loss of the invalid or unenforceable provision. Ii. The Parties shall execute any and all documents reasonably necessary or appropriate to carry out ~he terms and provisions of this Agreement. 12. This Agreement has been prepared and negotiated by the Parties hereto, each of which has been represented by counsel. Accordingly, the normal rules of construction to the effect that any ambiguities are to be resolved against the drafting party shall not be employed in the construction and interpretation of this Agreement. 041 ! 16 cl 0071903 13. The laws of the State of California shall govern the interpretation and enforcement of this Agreement, without regard to its conflict (or choice) of law rules or principles. 14. In the event that suit is brought by a Party relating to this-Agreement, the Parties agree that trial of such actiOn shall be vested exclusively in courts of competent jur<sdiction in the County of Santa Clara, California. 15. This Agreement is binding on all successors and assigns of the Parties. 16. This Agreement may be modified, amended, altered, changed, or repealed, in whole or in part, only by the written consent of the Parties. 17. Any Party may Waive, in writing, any provision of this Agreement to the extent such provision is for the benefit ofthe waiving pafty. No Waiver of any Party of a breach of any provision of this Agreement. shall be construed as a waiver of any subsequent 0~ different breach. No forbearance by a Party to seek a remedy for noncompliance or breach by another Party shall be construed as a waiver of any right or remedy with respect to such noncompliance or breach. 18. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which shall .be an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument. 19. Each Party to this Agreement shall bear its own costs and fees, including attorney’s fees, incurred in connection with the negotiation and exedution of this Agreement. 20. This Agreement shall become binding on the parties on the later occurring of (i) adoption of aCity Council resolution approving the Agreement and authorizing the City Manager to execute it on the City’s behalf, and (ii) Comcast’s execution of the Agreement. 21. As used in this Agreement, "Effective Date" shall mean the date of adoption of a City Council resolution approving the Agreement and authorizing the City Manager to execute it on the City’s behalf. // // 041116 cl 0071903 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the duly appointed representatives of the Parties have executed this Agreement on the date first above stated in the city of Palo Alto, County of Santa Clara, State of California. CITY OF PALO ALTO COMCAST OF CALIFORNIA IX, INC. City Manager By: Name: Title: APPROVED AS TO FORM:Taxpayer Identification No. Senior Asst. City Attorney APPROVED: Director of Administrative Services (Compliance with Corp. Code § 313 is required if the entity on whose behalf this contract is signed is a corporation.In the alternative, a certified corporate resolution attesting to the signatory authority of the individuals signing ~in their respective capacities is acceptable.) 041116 cl 0071903 CERTIFICATE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT (Civil Code § 1189) STATE OF ) ~ ) SSo COUNTY OF ) On , 2004, before me,, a Notary Public in and for said County and State, personally appeared , personally known ~to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their authorized capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the person(s), or the entity upon behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed the instrument. WITNESS my hand and official seal. Signature of Notary Public 041116 cl 0071903 10 Attachment 1 Site name Atherton Library Holbrook Palmer Facilities: Main House, Carriage House, Play School, Pavilion City Manager’s House Permit Center Corp Yard Council Chambers Fire District Station 2 Menlo Park Library Sharon Heights Pump Station Chrysler Drive Pump Station James Flood Magnet School Menlo Oaks Intermediate School Willow Oaks Elementary School La Entrada Middle School Las Lomitas Elementary School District Office Laurel Elementary School Oak Knoll Elementary School Hillview Middle School Administrative District Office Garfield Elementary Charter School Selby Lane’Elementary School Menlo-Atherton High School Fire district Station 1 Fire District Station 4 Fire District Station 6 Fire District Station 3 I-Net site # 2 3 4 5 6 13 14 15 24 25 34 37 38 41 42 43 45 46 47 48 50 51 52 71 72 73 76 City/Hub Athert0n Atherton Atherton Atherton Atherton Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo Park Atherton Atherton Atherton Atherton Menlo Park Menlo Park Atherton Menlo Park Atherton Atherton Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo Park Menlo.Park A.qency/School District City of Atherton City of Atherton City of Atherton City of Atherton City of Atherton City of Menlo Park Menlo Park FD City of Menlo Park City of Menlo Park City of Menlo Park Ravenswood ESD Ravenswood ESD Ravenswood ESD Las Lomitas SD Las Lomitas SD Las Lomitas SD Menlo Park City ESD Menlo Park City ESD Menlo Park City ESD Menlo Park City ESD Redwood City ESD Redwood City ESD Sequia Union HS District Menlo Park FD Menlo Park FD Menlo Park FD Menlo Park FD Required 4 fibers home 2 fibers home 2 fibers home 4 fibers home 4 fibers home 4 fibers home 6 fibers home 4 fibers home 2 fibers home 2 fibers home 4 fibers home 4 fibers home 4 fibers home 6 fibers home 4 fibers home 2 fibers home ¯ 4 fibers home 4 fibers home 4 fibers home 6 fibers home 4 fibers home 4 fibers home 6 fibers home 6 fibers home 6 fibers home 6 fibers home 6 fibers home Fibers run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run.to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub run to hub