Hanson Select Board approves 10-year Comcast license worth millions in PEG funding

HANSON -- June 24, 2025, Hanson Select Board votes unanimously to enter a new 10-year Comcast cable franchise license securing $212,800 in fixed PEG access capital funding and a new high-definition channel for Whitman-Hanson Community Access Television. Special cable counsel William Solomon told the board the license, negotiated in tandem with Whitman, represents "the most favorable terms in the Commonwealth," with PEG support set at 4.75 percent of Comcast's broadly defined gross revenues and a fixed annual payment of approximately $21,280, terms Solomon said Comcast has resisted in other communities. The board directed Town Administrator Lisa Green and Solomon to draft a letter urging Comcast to improve its $2-per-month senior discount, which one board member called "less than worthless." In other action, the board approved four end-of-year line item budget transfers totaling $86,000, adopted state-model designer selection procedures to advance the library renovation project's request for qualifications phase, appointed Lionus Barley as the town's new wiring inspector following the retirement of longtime inspector Art Savage, and moved through more than 30 annual committee and officer appointments before adjourning to executive session to discuss collective bargaining strategy for administrative, fire, highway, and police unions.