Office of Cable Communications Subject Files

Series

Identifier: 0801-01

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence, memoranda, reports, and reference materials relating to cable television issues. Includes files and reports from the City's National Telecommunications and Information Administration grant project. Records are primarily from the years Frank Grief was OCC director, but also include materials from the years that the office was part of the Board of Public Works.

Dates

Creation: 1972-1986

Creator

Seattle (Wash.). Office of Cable Communications (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access note

Records are open to the public.

Historical Note

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The Office of Cable Communications was established in 1974 as a unit of the Board of Public Works. Its purpose was to review Federal Communications Commission regulations, insure compliance, and to promote the City's interests in relation to cable television. An ordinance passed in 1976 mandated City procedures and regulations that cable companies must follow. In 1978, the Office was transferred to the Executive Department and a penalties and enforcement section was added to the Cable Communications ordinance. In 1988 the Office was abolished as an independent office and its function transferred to the Department of Licenses and Consumer Affairs; the cable franchising function was subsequently moved to the Department of Administrative Services in 1992. In 1997 the Executive Services Department was created, assuming most of the operations of the DAS, including the cable franchising function. With the creation of the Department of Information Technology in 2000, cable matters were reorganized into the Office of Cable Communications, a unit of the Internet and Cable TV Division.