U.S. cities want to keep control over video franchising, represen...
U.S. cities want to keep control over video franchising, representatives told the FCC ahead of a deadline for comments on a controversial rulemaking. About 30 municipalities have told the Commission they want to the right to review and issue…
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approval for the entry of Verizon’s FiOS fiber TV service and other cable providers’s efforts in that area. Sales of FiOS began Sept. 22 in Tex. Responses to the FCC local franchise inquiry are due Feb. 13, replies March 14. The inquiry seeks comments on the efficiency with which municipalities issue competitive video licenses (CD Nov 21 p6). FCC Chmn. Martin said last week a key 2006 Commission priority is facilitating competitors’ entries into markets with incumbent cable firms (CD Jan 23 p3). As of late Mon. nearly half the franchise filings came from N.C. - probably because regional members of the National Assn. of Telecom Officers & Advisors have been lobbying hard there, Libby Beaty, the group’s exec. dir., told us. She said she hopes the filings so far are just the tip of the iceberg. Her group’s expanding effort includes a form letter officials can sign and send, she said. “I certainly asked and encouraged and pleaded with them to make their own showings as to what they're doing and how they're doing it,” Beaty said. “There’s nothing that can supplant their giving the information to the FCC directly… They have the facts.” Boilerplate that Beaty’s group provided dominates many filings: “Local governments can issue an appropriate local franchise for new entrants into the video services field on a timely basis,” said Redding, Cal., Pennsville, N.J., and Asheboro, N.C., among other cities. But Pennsville and other towns also said they lack ways to offer franchises to firms other than cable operators already serving them. Manatee County, Fla., and other more heavily populated jurisdictions told how they have tried to streamline franchise applications. Manatee County said it was spurred to update its cable rules when Verizon began seeking permission from numerous municipalities to expand its fiber TV service. Verizon and changes in state law “caused Manatee County to recognize that its then-existing cable ordinance was not in the best shape to effectively and efficiently deal with core issues,” it said.