Legislation would take cable TV franchise authority away from
local government
Gilroy – A second front has opened in the battle between the nation’s telecommunication giants and supporters of public access television, this time over state legislation that could erode support for cable programs produced by local churches, governments and schools.
Though less far-reaching than similar bills at the federal level, the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act circulating in Sacramento also aims to eliminate the power of cities and counties to decide which cable providers can dig up public roads and lay down broadband cable for television service. Instead, the bill would cede the state authority over such “franchise agreements.”
In the franchise area covering Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista, such agreements allow local governments to extract $189,000 and five television channels to support public, educational and government programming, commonly known as PEG.
Financial support could shrink by half and the number of channels available for PEG could also diminish under the legislation authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), according to Suzanne St. John-Crane, executive director of Community Media Access Partnership, which serves the tri-city area.
“Citizens stand to lose if this passes,” she said.
In addition to funding from the cities it serves, CMAP gets 3 percent of gross revenue from Charter Communications, the company holding the local cable franchise. In its current form, the Nunez bill would reduce that fee to 1 percent of gross revenues, cutting CMAP’s annual operating budget from $300,000 to roughly $174,000.
“Our funding would be cut by 50 percent. So would our services and staff,” St. John-Crane said. “There’s no fat to cut at CMAP.”
Supporters of the bill say it will remove the 40-year-old, city-by-city franchise process and give new providers such as AT&T and Verizon an easy entree into the cable TV market. And more competition, supporters say, means lower prices for cable customers.
“Certainly there are some concerns that have been raised in terms of making sure PEG channels get their funding,” said local Assemblyman Simon Salinas (D-Salinas). “Once those issues are taken care of, then we can go forward with this and allow competition to give the consumer some more choices.”
But criticisms extend beyond the funding issue. Opponents also bemoan the loss of local control and the elimination of requirements that cable companies provide free service to schools and libraries. They are concerned because the law would take away local control over how many PEG channels a franchise holder must provide.
“Franchising for any utility that uses the city’s public rights of way should be under the control of the city,” Gilroy City Administrator Jay Baksa said. “This is just another subversion of city authority that has worked well over many, many decades.”
St. John-Crane has taken her concerns to Sacramento, where she recently spoke to members of Nunez’s staff about how the legislation can be changed so public access stations like CMAP don’t suffer. Among other things, she suggested a “do no harm” clause that would prevent new franchise holders from reducing current funding levels for public access stations. She said her efforts have been well-received.
“They are surprised at how much money will be lost if this passes,” she said. “The message I’m getting is, ‘We need to fix this.’ ”
PEG supporters are trying to hammer home a similar message at the federal level, where a major rewriting of the 1996 Telecommunications Act portends even bigger dangers for local community access television.
One of several Senate bills now circulating would allow telecom companies to abide by whichever law – whether state or federal – places the least restrictions on the companies, according to St. John-Crane. She does not expect the political fight over the bills to climax until after congressional elections at year’s end. In the meantime, PEG supporters will focus on the Nunez bill.
“We’re basically fighting two battles right now,” she said.
The Nunez bill, AB 2987, has been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
