The Cal. PUC unanimously adopted rules to implement a 2006 video ...

franchise applications. The PUC said it can accept franchise applications now. Verizon said it plans to be among the first providers to seek a state video franchise. The rules (Case R-06-10-005) provide for a 30-day review period to check applications for all the information required by law. The order gives the Div. of Ratepayer Advocacy unrestricted access to any video franchise information possessed by the PUC but won’t allow any challenges to video franchise applications during the 30-day review period. The PUC said the 30-day timeline precludes consideration “even of limited protests.” The rules also require state-franchised video providers to file reports on service deployment, with the PUC authorized to enforce the franchise law’s anti-bias and buildout provisions. The rules say formal inquiries on bias and buildout violations can be launched on the PUC’s own motion or in response to a municipal govt. complaint. The order bars subsidizing video services from phone service revenues. Penalties in this order range from fines of up to 1% of an offending provider’s monthly gross revenues to revocation of the state franchise for chronic or flagrant rule violations. The rules leave it to municipalities to address public access channels and emergency alert system requirements and to enforce consumer protection standards. PUC Comr. Rachelle Chong said the rules directly reflect the statute and triggered controversy mainly because they mark a new way of doing video franchising. She said the law put the PUC in a new position, more ministerial than regulatory; that’s very different from how the PUC exercises authority over telecom carriers.