STAFFORD — Some Stafford County residents will continue to get their cable TV and internet from Cox Communications.
Cox had been providing telecommunications services to customers in the southern portion of the county under an agreement that expires June 6.
The Stafford County Telecommunications Commission negotiated with Cox so that they could continue to serve the Falmouth, George Washington, and Hartwood districts.
TCC member Brian Roinestad negotiated the for Stafford County and spoke at the Board of Supervisors meeting on May 19. Roinestad talked mainly about the service Cox provides and the updated terms of the deal.
“Cox will extend service to new subscribers upon request, for homes located in areas in which there is an average of 20 homes per mile along the public right-of-way,” Roinestad said. “Only homes within 300 feet of the right-of-way will be counted. Cox will charge its standard installation rate for all subscribers located within 200 feet of the right-of-way.”
The TCC’s primary goal for this agreement was for the new Cox deal to be as similar to the deal Stafford County made with Comcast in December 2016.
“We want this to end up as close in terms of the Comcast agreement,” Roinestad said. “We felt [that] it was precedent with both of our other franchise providers [Comcast and Verizon] going into those negotiations and at the end of the day I feel we ended up with such an agreement.”
Cox will continue to provide video service and any necessary equipment (such as a converter box) at no charge to County government and school facilities within its service area.
“Cox will pay the county an annual grant of $0.20 per subscriber per month,” Roinestad said. “This grant will be used to purchase equipment to support the public, educational and government (PEG) access channels, and related capital needs. This is the same fee paid by Comcast and Verizon. Cox will also provide three channels on its system for carrying PEG channels.”
The new Cox deal has new discounts for lower-income families.
“Cox was more than willing to get the word out about discounted broadband services to students under the free and reduced lunch program,” Roinestad said.
The TCC was very enthusiastic about the new deal with Cox.
“At the end of the day I feel and the TCC feels that this will serve the residents of Stafford county well,” Roinestad said. “I can’t remember any time during my time w/ the TCC anyone came in and address had an issue with cox in terms of service and infrastructure. Any questions we’ve had with Cox has been answered in an exponential manner.”
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors and Telecommunications Commission approved the deal unanimously.
Unlike behemoth cable provider Comcast which services northern Stafford County, Cox serves a much smaller share of Northern Virginia with service areas to also include Fredericksburg City, Fairfax County, and some portions of Loudoun and Arlington counties.
