Reproduction of news letter from Access TV 21 in Charlotte-Meck - Write/call your representatives...
| April, 12 2006 |
Volume 4, Number 131 |
|
RIDICULOUS IN RALEIGH
You probably remember from a previous edition of the newsletter, my discussing pending federal legislation that would move cable franchising from the local level to a national franchising scheme. The bill, known as the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006, COPE, was passed out of a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This legislation would allow any company who wishes to provide cable television service, to do so without the need of obtaining a franchise from the local government. Local control is extremely important because it holds cable operators to a much higher standard of performance, customer service and community support than the proposed bill does. If COPE were to become law, local government would have no say in how these new systems are constructed, where they can provide service, or more importantly, where they must provide service, and will leave the consumer out in the cold with no protections for the remedying of complaints. Under this bill, if you have problems with your cable service, get ready to call Washington because you will need to call the FCC to get it fixed. If you have a problem with your bill, be ready to call the FCC. Won't that be convenient? How long do you think it will take to get an answer out of Washington?
The bill will also have a very damaging effect on public, educational and government access channels like TV 21 since it limits the amount of funding a local government can get to operate these channels. Currently local government can negotiate for funding for PEG channels based on community needs, but if COPE passes, a cap is placed on those potential funds thus limiting PEG's growth.
Please take a minute and call your Congressman and tell them that you want cable franchising left in the hands of local government. The system isn't broke, don't fix it.
If you don't know who your Congressman is, or which district you live in, send me your name and address with zip code and I can tell you who to call. After you make your call, let me know so that we can track how many calls have been made. It is going to take all of us to make this happen.
Not to be out done by their colleagues in Washington, the North Carolina Legislature now has draft legislation to take cable franchising out of local government hands and put it squarely in the hands of the state government in Raleigh. A statewide cable franchising bill is now being considered by the Revenue Laws Study Committee. This bill is so bad it almost makes the horrible federal legislation seem respectable. Under this bill, not yet named, cable providers will be granted statewide franchises by the Secretary of State. Once again, our local elected officials are completely cut out of the process. The federal legislation would allow local government to continue to collect its 5% franchise fee, but the state legislation excludes any service subject to state sales tax from the franchise fee. Since cable service is subject to the sales tax, local government will not be able to collect its usual 5%, thus costing cities millions in revenue. Oh and again, if you have problems with your cable, you will need to contact the Attorney General, even though the bill provides absolutely no support to the Attorney General to address such complaints.
Even more frightening to all of you who support TV 21 should be the fact that this bill prohibits local government from negotiating any support for PEG channels. The bill allows for PEG channels to exist under some absolutely harsh restrictions, but prohibits asking for funds. We can have PEG channels; we just can't have any money to run them. Outrageous!
This bill is scheduled to come before the Revenue Laws Study Committee next week. Once it does, I will be back asking you to contact one of our local Mecklenburg Senators, Senator Daniel Clodfelter, who sits on the committee and ask him to oppose the bill. We must kill this bill now. Kill the bill!
Thanks for your help on all of this and I await your messages indicating that you have called Congress.
EASTER SCHEDULE
I want to remind everyone that TV 21 offices and facilities will be closed on Friday and Saturday in observance of Good Friday and Easter. If your program is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, you must have your tapes turned in by 5 PM on Thursday, April 13.
Have a great holiday.
That's it for now; I'll be talking with you again soon.
John A. Rocco
Executive Director
