PA yesterday, Michigan today- Telecomms fight to divide and conquer
Verizon isn’t the only company trying to divide and conquer on the issues of Net Neutrality, squashing Cable Competitors, and bypassing the local Franchise Process by pushing for state level franchising. Verizon lost the fight so far in PA, let’s hope that AT&T loses a similar fight in Michigan.
Could it be that the grassroots movement surrounding Net Neutrality has increased the awareness of the twofaced game the Telecomms have been playing? I think probably so. There’s only so many times a company can tell it’s stockholders that there will be no price wars when TV over IP is introduced, while they tell consumers the opposite– that what they’re proposing is good for competition, before the Telecomm losing credibility with all concerned.
These state level initiatives all share the same problems, no matter which Telecomm is playing the game. The state level franchise means to local government that they’ll suffer loss control of control over the franchise process, a lack of buildout requirements which allow the Telecomms to redline unattractive rural areas, a recomputation of franchise fees in such a way that the Telecomms benefit over the Cable Companies who were there first and to the detriment of the local taxpayer, a lack of a commitment to include municipal services such as city hall and the library within the scope of the franchise agreement which also impacts local taxpayers, lack of any meaningful Net Neutrality provisions, less (if any) commitment to local and community access TV . . . the list goes on. Yet all the telecomms pulling this crap keep pushing one huge “benefit”, which is a false one– that state level franchise agreements are “pro-consumer”.
BellSouth (soon to be part of AT&T) is trying the same end run in Tennessee (pdf). Verizon succeeded in getting state franchising passed in NJ, but that was prior to all the noise made over Net Neutrality. The PA bill has been sidetracked via the lack of support by the municipailities. Being a Commonwealth may mean we have potholes, but it also gave the local Communities the power to scuttle the legislation before it ever got to a vote in the State Capitol. I think I can live with the potholes.
You folks in Michigan, PAY ATTENTION. You need to get on the horn and call your legislators. You need to email your state representatives. You need to write letters to the editor. Making noise about this CAN get you a result that will be better for you, the Michigan Taxpayer. And for the record, Verizon is still working with municipalities in PA on a local level, so defeating a statewide initiative didn’t mean they’re not going to provide PA municipalities with TV over IP, it just means they’ll be forced to play the game on an even playing field. You can force AT&T to play fair in Michigan.
Technorati Tags: Cable Choice, State Cable Franchise, Michigan Cable Bill, AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth, Municipal Cable Franchise
