The City of Warren is closing in on finalizing a cable franchise agreement with Breezeline, formerly Atlantic Broadband.

It’s a statutory requirement that any cable provider operating in a municipality have such a franchise agreement.

Breezeline is the only cable provider in the City of Warren.

But as TV consumption shifts more toward the internet and streaming options, officials caution the agreement doesn’t cover what some think it should.

The city’s legal counsel negotiating the firm, Mike Roberts with the Cohen Law Group, addressed council last week to outline the scope of the agreement and provide an update on negotiations.

“The negotiations are essentially complete,” he explained, noting a final package will be provided to the city for consideration in the wake of last week’s meeting.

One element of the process that unfolded last week was reviewing the public comments received in the process.

Roberts said the comments received at a public hearing in July were “on par” with similar public hearings in other communities.

He acknowledged the cable franchise can be a “bit (of a) confusing issue” but stressed that “all the agreement is permitted to address” is the cable service, not broadband or any streaming services.

He explained many of the public comments called for action on the part of the city that federal law would not permit, such as regulating pricing.

The franchise agreement is non-exclusive, meaning other providers could theoretically offer the service here.

But that’s not likely.

“The cable industry … it’s very territorial,” Roberts said, noting that it’s upcoming for other providers to “overbuild” an area.

While the agreement can’t regulate price, he did explain that “strong technical standards” about the type of system and “strong customer service standards” are part of the agreement.

It will also include a provision, Roberts said, that Breezeline will facilitate a “convenient location” in or around Warren to meet customer needs.

In exchange for the permission to operate in the city, the city receives revenue from the cable company from a variety of sources. Councilman Maurice Cashman asked about the status of an audit designed to determine whether the city has been appropriately compensated.

Roberts said the audit was completed back in July and a “total underpayment” was discovered of $123.82.

Councilman John Barbera asked about the percentage of Breezeline subscribers that have cable vs. use the internet for streaming.

No specific data was cited but Roberts said “the subscriber count is going down for cable.”