The Video Competition Act designed to create an AT & T complaint department within the halls of an expanding Wisconsin state government swept through the Republican controlled Assembly on Tuesday, while its passage was delayed in the Democratic-controlled Senate amid questions over how much it will cost the state to license telecommunications companies and field cable complaints.
Cable Bill Stalls
Not too long ago, Democrats were accused of expanding government and increasing taxes. Just think, this is best aspect of this greased corporate legislation.
BDN Excerpt:
Nevertheless, as technology advances, opportunities for squeezing dollars out of business to pay for public access programs may disappear.
Why? What does technology have to do with NOT providing for public access programs?
BDN Excerpt:
Truth is, the franchising arrangement is somewhat misleading anyway. It makes citizens believe City Hall has some power or authority over the cable provider, but that's simply not the case. City Hall can't regulate rates, it can't monitor service, it can't even stipulate channel selections. Local government basically can collect a fee. For now.
If local governments have NO power over cable providers or service, then why is AT & T going through all of this trouble to get around local governments that have NO power?
Not too long ago, Democrats were accused of expanding government and increasing taxes. Just think, this is best aspect of this greased corporate legislation.
3 comments:
This news item repeats a common mistake. Cable providers are not paying franchise fees or PEG fees. They're allowed to pass those on to subscribers. We pay them.
The bill doesn't touch existing franchise fees - most often a 5% tax on the cable provider's revenues. But it's paid by subscribers, not the video provider. Similarly, any separate public access (PEG) fee is paid by subscribers - not the cable company.
Franchise fees are effectively a local tax paid by the consumers who buy services delivered on wires installed in the public right-of-way. The rate was set by your local elected officials. They are perfectly free to reduce it to zero percent. Similarly, any PEG fee was set by your city council. It could be used to repay a capital equipment loan used to build or expend your PEG station, or it could be used for operating funds for it. Some cities have no separate PEG fee. Instead, the franchise fee revenue is put into general revenues, and they pay for the PEG station out of that. It's rare that a city gives the same amount to the PEG channel that they collect in franchise fee revenue. In that sense, franchise fees are paid by video subscribers, but the benefit is felt by all citizens.
In what sense does an existing cable provider pay for PEG under current rules? They pay for the transmission of the signal from the PEG station into their network and then back out to the subscribers. PEG channels occupy valuable real estate in the basic cable line-up. They'd rather fill it with another shopping channel.
Yes, the life of a video provider is much easier with state-level franchising. It eliminates all the nasty local issues, like arguing with citizens about whether and where they should be allowed to place an electrical box of any size on the grass between the street and your front lawn.
I know this might sound a little far-out, but my end-game bet is that AT&T will have exempted itself from these state-level agreements within a year or so. They'll claim they're exempt because of the loophole in Wisconsin's bill that exempts providers who deliver via Internet protocol. Where the present law seems out-dated because it's coaxial-based and uses the word "cable," the new bill carves out an exemption for AT&T's U-Verse. Or maybe Wisconsin's law will be superceded by a national franchise system.
Exactly John, my point to BDN editorial is to call them on their logic, that if they are going to use certain talking points as a defense for the Competition Act, they need consistency.
We return to what this is all about, which is control, power and profits. The stuff about lower prices, competition, better service and programming is all BULLS**T!!
This is great! Thanks for some good news for us. Hope for another!
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