Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed Thursday a new 15-year franchise agreement with Comcast, giving the mass media giant nonexclusive priority over competitors to set up cable and Internet infrastructure in exchange for commitments to the city.
In the deal, Comcast agreed to several commitments, including:
• 5 percent payment of all its gross local cable revenues to Philadelphia
• Giving the city's low-income seniors access to its Internet Essentials program, while offering a 5-year amnesty program to the 90-day buffer period for transitioning to the program
• Hiring 150-200 Philadelphians to work as customer care employees
• Providing a $500,000 grant to support City's Digital Inclusion Alliance Fund, which would work toward the goal of digital literacy.
Comcast is the parent company of NBC10.
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