San Bruno cable sale finalized

The $8 million sale will make a dent in the $21.5 million debt San Bruno accrued in its ultimately-unsuccessful mission to keep its cable and internet service competitive.

“We had not been able to compete technologically for a long time. Fiscally, it was becoming a bad deal for us. It had become a bad deal for us a long while ago,” Councilmember Tom Hamilton said. “Really, the time had come to make this decision.”

According to previous San Bruno staff reports, the purchase price of CityNet could be reduced if CityNet’s total customers drop below 5,400 during the 180-day period after the agreement was executed March 6. The service currently has 5,527 subscribers, City Manager Alex McIntyre said.

Once the sale is closed, San Bruno will continue to operate CityNet while Comcast upgrades and physically transitions customers for a six-month transition period. Most customers won’t experience a disruption to their services during that time frame, Vice Mayor Marty Medina said.

“We’re assured from Comcast it should be a very seamless transition,” he said.

Jonathan Fisher, Comcast California Construction and Engineering vice president, said that Comcast is working to put a framework in place to help customers move from CityNet to Xfinity and NOW brand residential services.

When the transition — which should be completed by the end of 2025, city staff said previously — gets into full swing, technicians will go home to home updating residential equipment like modems. A pop-up store will be installed for in-person service requests and customers can also visit a new Comcast website for more information.

“We will have technicians in the field. We will have a popup store going. We will be scheduling with customers to update equipment,” he said. “We have a white glove approach to this transition, with technicians available to visit every home.”

The goal for the service is to update one neighborhood a day, bringing residential homes onto the new network, Fisher said.

CityNet was well known for its superior customer service in San Bruno, Marty Medina said. While customers might miss that element of the city-run cable service, he said for the most part, residents seem to understand that San Bruno can simply no longer compete.

“When my mom would call, they’d send somebody out, you wouldn’t have to wait — really incredible customer service,” he said. “I believe overall sentiment is, ‘yeah, it’s too bad, but we understand.’”

As part of the agreement, prices won’t be raised for at least the first year, Marty Medina assured subscribers. Part of the unsustainability of the old CityNet model was that prices weren’t being raised quickly enough, he said.

“You’re going to get at least a one year chill-out period,” he said. “I’m explaining to people, we only raise rates in respect to increasing costs. Part of the problem we had as we were developing our market shares, we likely didn’t increase our costs quick enough in response to the market.”

It’s a bittersweet moment for the city as it moves toward a more sustainable internet service model.

“Though I understand the need for transition, it is a little bit bittersweet,” Rico Medina said. “This has been something for decades for the community, and in that way, it’s history and it’s memories.”