Comcast cable franchise renewal

Comcast of Central New Jersey II, LLC has applied to renew its municipal consent to own, operate, extend and maintain a cable television and cable communications system in Branchburg.

The application. The Township Document Center lists the public-copy application, labeled September 2025. Read through OCR, it identifies the applicant as Comcast of Central New Jersey II, LLC — a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast Cable Communications, itself wholly owned by Comcast Corporation — with an office address at 279 Amwell Road, Hillsborough. The application states that cable service is “currently available to the entirety of the municipality” and that Comcast would apply the state Office of Cable Television’s Line Extension Policy in future situations, with a density threshold of 25 homes per mile. Those are the applicant’s own statements. The rates section refers to appendices; detailed rates, channel line-ups, reliability measures, complaint history and requested consent terms are not summarized here.

The noticed hearing. A notice signed by Township Clerk Maggie Schmitt set a municipal-consent hearing for Monday, December 8, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. at the Municipal Complex, 1077 U.S. Highway 202 North, held under N.J.S.A. 48:5A-23 and N.J.A.C. 14:18-11.6, and invited interested parties to attend and be heard. Copies of the application were on file with the Clerk for review on weekdays. The notice said it would be published again between the fourteenth and seventh day before the hearing.

The hearing. The Township Committee held the public hearing at its December 8, 2025 meeting, with all five members present and Mayor Thomas Young presiding. According to the minutes, Robert Clifton, Comcast’s Senior Director for Government & Regulatory Affairs, gave an overview of the process and answered the Committee’s questions, and Township Attorney William Willard outlined the next steps, “which would be the adoption of an ordinance defining the terms of the renewal agreement.” The minutes record no public speakers and no vote on the renewal at that meeting.

Where it stands. No ordinance setting the renewal terms appears in the Committee’s minutes from December 22, 2025 through October 12, 2026, or on its October 26, 2026 agenda. When one is introduced, it will have a public hearing before final adoption.

Residents can review the application and notice, watch Committee agendas for the renewal ordinance, and raise cable-service matters in public comment at any Committee meeting. See the explainer for what the application and notice state.