2 counts dismissed in cable suit

HOULTON – A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed two of four counts in a lawsuit filed against the town by the owner of Houlton Cable TV.

U.S. District Judge Gene Carter last Thursday dismissed counts alleging that the town improperly denied Houlton Cable’s renewal of its franchise with the municipality, and that the town did not give legitimate reasons for that denial.

According to a court document, Carter dismissed the two counts as requested by the town after neither NEPSK Inc. of Yarmouth, the owner of the cable company, nor its lawyer, Bruce C. Gerrity of Augusta, filed objections to the town’s motion for judgment on its pleadings to do so.

Gerrity did not return a call left Wednesday on his answering machine, and Joseph J. Hahn, a Portland lawyer representing the town in the case, was unavailable until next week.

Two other counts in the lawsuit claiming that the town failed to award Houlton Cable a competing franchise and that the town entered into a contract with the cable company that it later breached are still pending.

The company has asked for a jury trial.

Houlton Cable had a 15-year contract with the town that expired last year. Since April 1998, the town and the cable company had attempted to negotiate a new contract. When those efforts broke down – primarily over the initial reluctance of Houlton Cable to provide high-speed Internet access – the Town Council last February voted to seek service proposals from other providers.

Two companies, HCTV and Pine State Management Co. Inc., based in Wayne, Pa., and doing business in Maine as Pine Tree Cablevision, submitted proposals.

After holding a public hearing, reviewing a community survey and consulting with a lawyer, town councilors felt the Pine Tree proposal was the best and last May voted to enter into negotiations with the company.

Houlton Cable filed its lawsuit in June, before any contracts were awarded.

In September, the council voted to award a 10-year contract to Pine Tree. That contract can’t go into effect until the HCTV lawsuit is settled.