The sky is pink and it looks like another “scorcher” is in the works.. I better get this blog written before the “tuning fork” gets too hot to handle. I wonder what “community networking” tidbit will resonate today. While I was waiting for my mind to vibrate with another tuning fork hum, the “Close to Home” column on page B7 (7-24-06) of the PD caught my eye with – “Why Legislature should say goodbye to cable measure.” It’s written by Pat Gilardi and Bob Jehn, city council members from two nearby cities in Sonoma County. Evidently, they have strong feelings about AB2987, a bill currently being lobbied in Sacramento. What would AB2987 do, if passed?
“AB2987 would create a new statewide franchise for cable and video service providers, abolishing the current city-by-city local franchise that has been used to establish cable service in Sonoma County cities.”
Obviously, this would be a dramatic change from current policy and procedures. Their column presents both arguments in this debate. Telephone companies support it because they believe they “cannot provide Californians with competitive access to 21st Century telecommunications – video, voice, and broadband Internet service, if they have to obtain local franchise approvals.”
All nine cities in the county oppose this bill because they are concerned about issues related to the local communities and consumers. For instance: funding for local access stations; preserving franchise fees for use of rights-of-way in local areas, and the fear that not all neighborhoods and areas will receive the same quality of service. A few amendments have been made to solve these issues; but one that appears to make the bill worse, “would permit a cable company to unilaterally walk away from a local franchise agreement, and instead apply for a statewide franchise, if a telephone company aquires a state franchise to serve the same territory.”
Oh, oh – if this happens, I think we might have a problem “right here in river city.” What would happen to the existing franchise agreements for public broadcasting? (Our PCA) and other community benefits? (An I-Net, which has never been created in Petaluma) The authors ask a key question in relation to these current benefits, “Will they simply be cast aside?”
All parties say they want California to have the best communications possible, if we are to remain economically competitive in our “flattening” 21st Century world. What do the viewers of this blog think? (I hope I hear that tuning fork hum, in time for my next blog.) Stay tuned!
