Public Access Threatened by House and Senate Bills - Take Action!



Three dangerous bills have recently been filed in Congress. Each bill seeks to amend the Telecommunications/Cable Acts of 1984, 1992, and 1996 by removing or greatly weakening the requirement for video service providers to obtain franchises from cities and towns. The franchise fees paid by Comcast to the Town of Wilmington provide the primary source of funding for our operations, as well as Government and Educational Access channels 10 and 22.

This means that services and support for local media producers, as well as opportunities to represent your views and interests on cable television, are directly threatened.

The first two bills, Senate Bill 1349 and House Bill 3146, seek to ease telephone company entry into the video market by removing the "obstacle" of local franchising. Local franchising is the means by which cities and towns manage their public rights of way - the streets and sidewalks under which the telecommunications providers lay their cables. Local cable franchising is necessary to require telecommunications providers to pay franchise and public access fees and otherwise support public access as a form of rent for use of public real estate to conduct their business. If these bills pass, it sets the stage for cable providers, like Comcast, to seek relief from key contractual obligations to support public access. The third, Senate Bill 1504, the Broadband Investment and Consumer's Choice Act, is the most virulent - it would simply do away with local franchise requirements!

The telecommunications companies are complaining that the need to negotiate with each municipality is too great a burden and is hampering their ability to roll out new services - yet we are informed that Comcast reported that earnings are up 64% this year!
We have clearly entered a legislative era in which corporate interests frequently prevail over the public interest. Many in the public access community believe that this is a critical time for producers and members to contact their elected representatives to inform them how much we value public, educational and governmental access, and that it is not right for the federal government to weaken cable franchising and municipal ability to require public access to the media.

What can we do? Start by calling, writing, or sending an email to our Senators and urge them to defeat Senate Bill 1504, the Ensign/McCain Broadband Investment and Consumer's Choice Act. Let them know how important public access is to you (tell them what you do here!) and that local control over the public rights of way should not be threatened. Then move on to the House of Representatives and tell them to stop House Bill 3146. Send us copies of your correspondence. Please click here for Sample letters and here for legislators contact information.

Your actions WILL make a difference! Our representatives need to know that the voters back home are paying attention, and that these bills will have an enormous effect on our lives. If you have any questions, please call WCTV Executive Director, Donna L. Gacek. Thank you for your support. Keep an eye on this site and also check out: http://www.freepress.net/defendlocalaccess/

 

 

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