Hatfield Renews 10-Year Comcast License, Secures $69,000 in Capital Payments

HATFIELD -- July 11, 2023, Hatfield Select Board renews 10-year Comcast cable license and clears $67,233 in year-end transfers. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the franchise renewal running July 11, 2023 through July 10, 2033, securing $69,000 in capital support paid over three installments and raising the town's annual public access fee from 4.5 percent to 4.75 percent of Comcast's gross revenues. Cable licensing attorney Bill Solomon, appearing remotely, called the agreement "the strongest financial, legal, or policy cable license in Western Massachusetts" outside Amherst and Northampton. The deal commits Comcast to delivering high-definition public access channels within 24 months and to connecting a planned new cable studio at Memorial Town Hall via fiber at company expense. In a 2-1 vote, the board also approved small within-budget pay increases for fire department staff, 50 cents per hour for two full-time firefighter EMT basics and 97 cents per hour for the full-time paramedic position, bringing that rate to $26.50, over the objection of one member who wanted to wait for the results of an ongoing fire services study.