City Council gathered Tuesday at City Hall to discuss Comcast’s franchise deal with the city of Philadelphia.
Council is expected to vote on the deal, which would allow Comcast to sell cable and other communications services in Philadelphia for the next 15 years. Officials are hoping to reach a deal by Thursday before the Council's final meeting of 2015.
Every 15 years the city renegotiates its franchise agreement which gives Comcast access to city "right-of-ways," like roadways, to provide its cable service. The city asks for certain givebacks to the community in exchange.
Advocates want the city to force Comcast to pay contractors a "prevailing wage" to conribute more to public schools and to expand its low-income Internet Essentials Program as well as end the 90-day shut off period currently required to enroll in the program.
If negotiators are able to reach an agreement, the City Council Committee would meet early Thursday morning to approve the deal and then pass it to the full City Council for approval later that day.
Comcast is the parent company of NBC10 and NBCUniversal.
