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Note: In a multi-billion dollar Florida cable market, 50K a month amounts to little more than a parking ticket. Red-lining violations should be met with the revoking of the franchise agreement. This is nothing more than a Republican white collar legislator writing an amendment to protect white collar criminals.

from: Bradenton.com

Bennett has 'better idea' for cable bill
By LYNDSEY LEWIS
Herald Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE --
Maybe the commercials are a little too convincing.

Weeks after a cable industry group began airing ads to support a bill that would expand the cable TV market, Sen. Mike Bennett, who sponsored the measure, led the charge this week to scratch out the very part of his bill praised by TV ads.

But Bennett, a Bradenton Republican, said that only happened because he has a better idea.

His bill, dubbed the "Consumer Choice Act of 2007," was designed to pave the way for increased competition in the market by providing statewide franchising rights for phone companies. Opponents of the measure originally complained that the bill would allow phone companies to "cherry-pick" which customers they serve.

As the bill worked its way through committees, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, addressed the cable lobbyists' concerns by amending the bill to require new companies to give cable access to at least half of low-income households in their service areas within five years. The commercials that have been airing voice support for the amendment.

Although the Senate Committee on General Government Appropriations decided to remove that clause, Bennett said he wants to see a tougher amendment added to his bill on the Senate floor.

Under the amendment, the attorney general's office would oversee companies to make sure "cherry-picking" doesn't take place.

If a company doesn't provide services to a poorer neighborhood within its designated area, Bennett said, that company could be charged $50,000 a month.

"We wanted to make sure that the language was true non-discrimination language," Bennett said.

He expects his bill to be taken up by the full Senate today. A companion bill has already passed the House without the amendment, but Steve Wilkerson, president of the Florida Cable Telecommunications Association, is working to get an amendment placed back on the Senate bill.

Still, he doesn't have any predictions on how the final draft will look, he said.

"This legislation has been so heavily lobbied - and it is subject to so much discussion by so many - that what the final result will be is still very much up in the air," he said.

But after discussing the issue with senators, Wilkerson is optimistic that members will amend the bill again before it's passed out.

"That's what the endgame is all about: The process of negotiation," he said.