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from: broadbandvision

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Statewide Cable Franchise Fight

PA House Bill 1490 is AN ACT Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for Statewide cable franchises and for municipal regulation of franchise holders of; Statewide franchises. The bill was referred to the House Consumer Affairs committee on July 9.

What's happening is, companies like Verizon who are building high-speed networks plan to offer television programming over the network. However, because they are a communications company they argue they should not be subject to current franchising provisions OR that franchises should be extended to encompass the entire Commonwealth as opposed to individual municipalities.

This strategy recently encounted something of a challenge in Connecticut. In an opinion issued yesterday, Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled that AT&T's U-Verse IPTV service is a cable television service like any other and is therefore subject to local franchising agreements.

What do you think this might mean for regional broadband infrastructure?