Fiscal Note
No appropration required.
Title
Expressing support for the efforts of TeleTruth Wisconsin in combating legislation that would lead to the elimination of local cable franchising.
Body
WHEREAS, legislation has been introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature (SB 107 and AB 207) that would prohibit Wisconsin municipalities from exercising local control over the provision of cable and video services in their communities; and,
WHEREAS, these bills would negatively impact cities such as Madison in that they would:
- replace local franchising of cable and video providers with vague, weak, and unenforceable state franchising;
- replace locally negotiated and controlled PEG (Public, Educational, and Government) Access television requirements with standards that would not allow financial support for these channels, contrary to current Federal law and the current local franchise agreement, which could result in the loss of important local programming directly relating to the needs and interests of the residents of Madison;
- replace locally determined franchise fees with a uniform national fee structure which would reduce needed revenues to Madison;
- restrict the City's ability to manage its public rights-of-way;
- eliminate "build-out" requirements for any video service provider, thereby allowing providers to discriminate based on the wealth of the local neighborhoods they choose to serve;
- deprive local citizens of the ability to address local issues locally, by removing to the state or even the Federal Communications Commission all customer service issues, and further by denying customers any form of recourse for any actions of a communications provider; and
WHEREAS, the efforts of AT&T and its front group, TV for Us", to promote this legislation have included false claims of:
- savings that would be realized by Madison cable subscribers should the so-called "Video Competition Act" become law;
- the creation of new, permanent jobs f...
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