Bad FCC

December 23, 2006

By Tom Brown
St. Joe Valley Greens

FCC Sells Out Local Communities and Public Access

The Republican controlled FCC has usurped Congress and defacto rewritten federal law governing cable franchising and local control. The FCC is acting in the interests of telecommunications giants AT&T and Verizon and against the interests of U.S communities.

Framed in the rhetoric of increased competition, lower cable rates, deregulation, reducing barriers to market entry and leveling the playing field, the FCC is attempting to control the media commons for the big corporations -- as they always have.

On December 20, 2006, the FCC voted 3-2 to give AT&T, Verizon and other carriers the power to set contract terms in negotiations with local communities.

Gone are:

negotiated fees for the right to use public assets
guarantees all citizens will be served regardless of where they live
public access channels
guaranteed freedom of speech
public safety and educational systems

The Telecommunications Industry Strategy

Telecommunications companies make billions of dollars using publicly owned radio airwaves and public land and rights of way. The public is legally entitled to something in return other than commercially controlled programming.

The telecommunications industry has adopted a three-proged strategy to keep the public away from the bargaining table.

1. The industry seeks to pass federal legislation to "streamline" the franchising process.

AT&T and Verizon want to enter the video services business. The telecom companies don't want to negotiate with local governments as the cable companies did.

Local governments are much more accountable to the public than are unelected state or federal commissions therefore local politicians won't easily roll over to the industry's demands. Local officials know the pubic expects a fair deal for use of public assets and will vote any politician out of office who fails to negotiate on the public's behalf.

The industry written legislation to "streamline" franchising failed to pass in the last Congress. But they'll be back whether Republicans or Democrats run the show.

2. The industry is lobbying state legislatures to create statewide video franchising commissions to supercede local governments.

Texas, California, Indiana, New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia, Kansas, North Carolina and South Carolina have already passed laws establishing statewide video franchises. Some of these laws also prohibit municipalities from creating their own private or public/private telecom services.

If a state has already passed a statewide video franchising law and thereby ended local control, the state is exempt from some provisions in the current FCC ruling.

3. The industry is using the FCC to administratively rewrite federal law to force local communities to negotiate contracts on the industry's terms.

Experts predict that Congress is likely to reassert close oversight of the FCC because of these rulings and that the FCC will also quickly find itself in court defending the same poorly thought out concepts and unproven assertions which stalled the telecom bill in the last Congress.

The FCC Rulemaking Weakens Communities

Ruling: The new rulemaking passed by the FCC puts a 5% cap on franchise fees that Comcast (in our area), or a new entrant like AT&T or Verizon, would have to pay cities and towns.

Ruling: New entrants seeking video franchises - telephone companies - are not required to carry PEG access channels. If they do, the companies can deduct the cost of operating the PEG channels from the 5% fee cap.

Ruling: Municipalities have only 90 days to negotiate new franchises, after which time the applicants can operate without an agreement.

Ruling: AT&T, Verizon, or any phone company poised to provide video would NOT be required to build-out networks to an entire city. The telecoms can cherry-pick higher income neighborhoods and ignore services to lower income neighorhoods. With competition for video services now favoring the telecom companies, cable prices may go up in poorer neighborhoods as the more affluent drop cable services.

Ruling: The Local Franchise Authority (LFA), i.e. the city, acting on behalf of local consumers, loses jurisdiction over video providers if they offer services other than cable, such as Internet or phone services. Of course, the telecoms will do all the above.

One wonders then, what is left to negotiate? The FCC has left cities and towns nearly defenseless and choiceless in the building of telecommunications infrastructure in their own jurisdictions.

Immediate Downsides

Less Public Service. Franchise fees are used by cities for whatever they choose. Typically cities choose to operate Public Educational Governmental (PEG) channels for the public benefit. Some municipalities, such as Indianapolis, Indiana, have no PEG channels and put 100% of their franchise fees into the general budget. Others, like Ft. Wayne, Indiana, leverage the franchise fees by combining them with public library funds to operate state-of- the-art, multi-channel PEG channels.

Less Information. South Bend Common Council meetings are videotaped by Comcast technicians and broadcast on channel 99, the local PEG channel. Since the Council broadcasts are word-for-word recordings, they provide more complete sources of information for local citizens than local television news or print media.

Narrowing Public Discourse. Non-commercial free speech is guaranteed by federal law on PEG channels. The sharpest and most critical speech heard on local media exists on PEG, unfettered by corporate or government control. GreenTV, sponsored by the St. Joe Valley Greens, has broadcast a weekly show on local PEG for three years. The shows we produce are unlike any local commercial broadcasting. Without PEG, the Green perspective will disappear from area TV screens.

What You Can Do Now

Let Congress know you want to bring the FCC to heel, reverse the usurpation of local power and restore the guarantees to the American public legislated by Congress.

The Alliance for Community Media (ACM) in coalition with other groups is mounting a campaign to get Congress actively involved. Visit the web site below, fill out the form and send it to Congress.

1. Make appointments with Congressional representatives, both House and Senate, for face-to-face meetings in home districts. The ACM office will supply you with additional support materials.

2. Complete meetings with Congressional representatives.

Participants for the meeting:

Access center representative(s) with list of groups served.
Constituent(s) or community leader(s) that can describe local benefits from using PEG.

Materials:

Position paper stapled to business card of PEG representative.
Support materials supplied by the national office.
Packet of PEG center info (fact sheet, newsletter, etc.)

Follow up questions:

Refer to ACM office (202) 393-1026.
Report the results of your meeting to the ACM office.

3. Talk to your city administrators and legislators. Tell them to stand up for your rights in negotiations with telecom and cable providers. Use the materials from the meetings with Congressional representatives.