By John Howell Sr.

CableOne has paid the City of Batesville an additional $7,635 in franchise fees for the first and second quarters of 2013, even as negotiations between the media service provider and city officials continue over renewal of a franchise agreement that lapsed several years ago.

The payment was announced during Tuesday’s meeting which happened to coincide with an announcement by CableOne that it no longer offers CNN, CNN en Espanol, Headline News, Turner Classic Movies, TruTV and Boomerang in its channel lineup. The CableOne/Turner Network contract expired Tuesday.

City officials during their Sept. 17 meeting raised questions at the amount after the second quarter payment of $2,397.51 fell substantially below the first quarter payment of $7,414.16, an amount that City Clerk Susan Berryhill said was in line with prior franchise payments. CableOne officials said that the original second quarter amount had been miscalculated.

The $7,635 payment followed an internal audit from Jan. through June, 2013, a letter from CableOne to the city stated.

The CableOne letter cited gross revenue of $581,595 subject to franchise fee for the six-month period.

CableOne spokesman Sandy Melton asked city officials during a July meeting to sign a 15-year franchise agreement with the media services provider. The mayor and aldermen balked at the length of the agreement.

CableOne came back with a request for the city to sign a five-year franchise agreement with an option to renew for another five years at expiration, city officials said Tuesday.
Melton was asked to attend the October 15 meeting of the mayor and aldermen to clarify the conditions of the agreement.