Nearly a year after talks began to renew a 10-year franchise with Comcast for cable television service on the Vineyard, the Island cable advisory committee chairman said this week that she now expects to see a contract completed by May or June.

Committee chairman Jennifer Rand said service to Chappaquiddick remains a key and unresolved sticking point.

“We have always been supportive [of running cable service to Chappy], but quietly,” she said. “We’re not being quiet anymore.”

The latest salvo between the negotiating committee and Comcast was a sharply-worded letter last week that took the cable giant to task for a letter to the editor sent to Vineyard newspapers last month. Among other things, the advisory committee questioned Comcast’s statement that it would cost $2 million to provide service to Chappy. “The cable committee does . . . dispute this figure,” Ms. Rand wrote on behalf of the committee in the April 4 letter. “The town of Edgartown has requested from Comcast any information that will back up this investment figure. To date, they have not received any response,” Ms. Rand wrote. The letter continued: “Without this information Comcast can certainly not expect that anyone other than Comcast will contribute toward building Comcast’s infrastructure, much less even be able to discuss the issue.”

The letter from the cable advisory committee goes on to dispute a series of other facts and figures in the Comcast letter, which was published in the Gazette on March 16.

The letter also states that the cable committee, which includes representatives from all six Island towns, “is united in their support for service to Chappaquiddick and look forward to coming to a resolution with Comcast to get this done.”

This week Ms. Rand, who is also the West Tisbury town administrator, said she and the committee’s attorney, William Solomon, are set to meet with Comcast executives on April 27 in Mashpee.

The Island’s 10-year agreement with Comcast expired last June; the current contract remains in effect until a new agreement is reached.

Chappaquiddick residents have been pressing for service to their island since last year. In December Edgartown pulled out of the negotiating talks and said it would stay out until Comcast could guarantee service to Chappy. A short time later, Tisbury followed suit. Last month both towns returned to the table.

The letter from the cable advisory committee last week now makes it clear that the entire committee stands behind service to Chappy.

Ms. Rand said there has been no response to the letter.

Other issues in the talks include emergency broadcasting capabilities, a fourth channel for MVTV and additional funds to provide capital equipment for MVTV, the Vineyard’s public, education and government station.

MVTV currently receives five per cent of the gross revenue Comcast gets from Island subscribers, and Comcast has committed to keeping the fee. Customers pay the five per cent charge through higher cable bills.