Both Bothell and Kenmore city councils recently considered joining a consortium of area cities in order to study the transfer of their respective community’s cable TV franchises to a new company, Frontier Communications Corp.

Based in Rochester, NY, the company is set to purchase the non-wireless portions of Verizon Inc., cable TV supplier to both Bothell and Kenmore.

At least in part, the sale is pending the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Neither Verizon nor Frontier Communications returned requests for comment.

Under FCC rules, at least the cable TV portion of the sale can’t go through without the approval of a certain percentage of the cities, which hold cable TV franchise agreements with Verizon.

Kenmore Assistant City Manager Nancy Ousley said the consortium will undertake, again following FCC rules, to determine whether the proposed new franchise holder is financially and technically capable of fulfilling the terms of existing franchise agreements.

In Bothell, City Manager Bob Stowe said much the same, noting the city has a right and an obligation to complete due diligence regarding the potential new cable TV supplier.

“We are looking at this very closely,” Ousley said, noting Kenmore’s agreement with Verizon is less than a year old.

Though she did not go into details, Ousley added officials have requested some specific information from Verizon regarding the transfer. Once that information is received, Ousley said federal rules give those involved 120 days to study the proposed franchise transfer. Ousley expects the due-diligence process to wrap up sometime this fall.

Ousley further noted that if a franchise holder takes no action and does not act to approve or disapprove changes in the franchise contract, their approval is presumed. Ultimately, in jurisdictions that do chose to take action, the final word lies with the city councils in those communities.