Only days after the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to deny OpenBand a franchise agreement, the Dulles-based communications firm requested that the court take action on a 2011 lawsuit filed against the county.
OpenBand filed the lawsuit Dec. 2 of last year, a month after the previous Board of Supervisors voted to deny the franchise agreement. The cable and Internet provider asked that the decision be reversed.
However, at the time, representatives of OpenBand said the firm had no immediate intention on serving the county with lawsuit.
“We’ve not served the county and have no immediate plans to do so,” Ben Young, director of government affairs for OpenBand said at the time. “The reason is litigation can be an expensive process for both sides. We’re still hopeful we can get a resolution from the county.”
Young declined to comment Thursday on the firm’s decision to continue with the lawsuit.
In February, OpenBand submitted a new request for a franchise agreement to provide open video service in the county.
Had the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 18 granted OpenBand a franchise agreement, the firm would have been allowed access to the public right-of-way to supply cable service to thousands of homes in the Ashburn and Lansdowne areas.
Supervisors voted 5-3-1 to turn down the agreement with OpenBand.
According to the suit, filed by McLean-based attorney Virginia Robinson, there was no basis to deny OpenBand’s application for a franchise renewal.
County Attorney John R. Roberts could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
OpenBand is asking that the court keep Loudoun County from terminating its franchise agreement and grant a new agreement for no less than 12 years with no restrictions.
The firm, the lawsuit says, has never been cited for violating the county’s Open Video Systems cable standards or accused of being in breach of its current franchise agreement, which expired in June.
According to the lawsuit filed by OpenBand, Loudoun’s past Board of Supervisors, which left office in January, said the basis for denying the franchise agreement was based on OpenBand’s unwillingness to allow for a termination clause. The clause would have allowed the county to end the agreement with two weeks’ notice should it be determined OpenBand was violating any laws.
The board also asked, at the request of then Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run), that the length of the franchise agreement be shortened from 12 years to four years, beginning June 17, 2009, and ending June 16, 2013.
In the lawsuit, OpenBand says those terms were never negotiated prior to the board’s decision.
In denying the franchise agreement renewal, the previous board went against the recommendations of the county’s staff and Open Video Service Commission.
The basis for the original denial was in part because of an exclusivity agreement that OpenBand negotiated with developer Van Metre in 2001 that prohibits competitors from serving homes in communities such as Southern Walk at Broadlands, Lansdowne on the Potomac, Lansdowne Village Green and Leisure World.
The contract allows OpenBand to exclusively provide service to the communities for at least 25 years, with an option for an extension of up to 75 years.
Two home owners associations – Southern Walk at Broadlands and Lansdowne on the Potomac – have filed lawsuits against OpenBand in federal court over those exclusive easements, saying they violate Federal Communication Commission laws.
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- Staff Writer Trevor Baratko contributed to this report.
- Editor’s Note: OpenBand is a subsidiary of M.C. Dean, a Dulles-based engineering firm. M.C. Dean is the former owner of the Loudoun Independent, which merged with the Loudoun Times-Mirror in July 2010. Bill Dean, M.C. Dean CEO and President, holds a minority interest in Times Community Media and sits on its Board of Directors.
I agree, Van Metre should be fined or not allowed to build in Loudoun anymore. They’re just as guilty as Open Band. Not 1 salesperson explained the Openband contract. All they stated was it was part of HOA and you’d have the latest and greatest technology.
SkidRow - It is hard to rebuild an HOA; if you have one person holding out you cannot do it.
Open Band’s suit is the very definition of frivolous & futile. They were rejected twice in 10 months, by two separate Board of Supervisors. Yet they have the balls to sue the County. This company should close their business doors for good.
Open Band has proven to be inept telcom provider. Their self serving monopoly & arrogance is their undoing. Buh-Bye Open Band. Don’t let the door hit your back side on the way out of Loudoun County. I hope the HOAs sue the pants off Van Metre & Hobie Mitchel who conspired with Open Band to defraud thousands of homeowners.
Was York part of the approval process that gave the rights to opan band?
If OpenBand is tied into the HOA Fees, dissolve the HOA and create a new one that isn’t bound by a contract.
The problem is you still are paying OpenBand via HOA fees even though they have a bad product. There is no incentive for OpenBand to improve any service to these areas. And if OpenBand was a legit business, they’d work harder at trying to please their customer base instead through the press and courts. On an open market, OpenBand is no where to be found in pricing, latest technology, customer support, and just good overall service. That’s why they get into a contract like this where they put a little effort up front and collect for many years after.
“The contract allows OpenBand to exclusively provide service to the communities for at least 25 years, with an option for an extension of up to 75 years.”
Wow, talk about wanting EVERYTHING ! I am wondering if there is ANY precedence for this, in any other part of the country. That seems way out of line; no wonder it was denied.
This article left out a great deal of information and was quite biased toward OpenBand. The reason that the board denied the franchise renewal was not for the reasons specified above. Rather, it was because of OpenBand’s refusal to allow competition into what should be public easement, poor service, poor selection of HD channels, higher prices than their competition - and the list goes on and on… OpenBand has arrogantly refused to negotiate with the home owners associations in the county in good faith because they feel they hold all the cards with an ironclad contract. Perhaps this will be a wake-up call for them. They need to wake up and smell the bacon.
I’d still like to know what Loudoun County official—back in 2001——decided it was a good idea to award Openband this exclusive agreement, with it’s 25 and 75 year lock ins?
So how about it Loudoun Times, find out who approved this mess in the first place??
SkidRow - Open Band is tied to the HOA fees, no matter what you add on top you are paying them, that is the scam of it. As home buyers you were told cable was part of the HOA but had no idea that the builder made a long term exclusive contract; it is the only of its kind and VA made a law to prevent future abuses of this sort.
Open Band has also not fulfilled its own promises to the county or homeowners under them. This law suit is a waste of money and time. They are going to lose and they will lose the battle with the HOAs they are fighting now and will be dead and gone soon enough.
Except you can’t just “pass” on it. The contract that Van Metre signed for the HOAs requires payment for all the homes in the neighborhood. It doesn’t matter if the house is occupied or if the owner has no use for cable tv or internet. Pay up!
If I lived in this community, I would just get a 4G wireless card for my computers from Verizon and bypass this nonsense.
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