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from: Belleville News Democrat

House votes for cable competition bill

DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A bill intended to spur competition with cable TV companies won overwhelmingly approval Wednesday in the Missouri House.

The legislation would make it easier for AT&T Inc. and other traditional telephone companies to begin offering television service over their wires.

Instead of striking franchise agreements with each community they want to serve, companies could get approval from the Missouri Public Service Commission. Incumbent cable companies also could opt out of their local franchise deals in favor of a state franchise.

The result, lawmakers hope, will be more choices for TV subscribers who already are growing accustomed to bundling landline telephone, wireless phone, Internet and television services through a single provider.

"We need a regulatory environment that recognizes companies that were once separate industries now all compete for the same customers," said House Majority Leader Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, who handled the bill.

The House passed the legislation 143-4. But because it made changes to a version that previously passed the Senate 32-2, the legislation now must return to the Senate for final approval.

Eleven states, including neighboring Kansas, already have similar laws or policies.

If Missouri's bill is signed into law, San Antonio-based AT&T has pledged to spend more than $100 million to expand its video service in Missouri.

A similar bill failed to reach a vote last year in the Senate because of opposition by the cable TV industry. But cable companies and AT&T continued negotiations after the session ended, ultimately agreeing on the general framework of the bill now pending in the Legislature.

Consumer advocates say the bill still does not include enough protections for customers.

Cable companies also did not get everything they wanted.

For example, the Senate version dropped a provision that would have charged satellite TV services a fee similar to what cable companies already must pay. The House defeated by voice vote on Wednesday an amendment that would have imposed that fee, with the proceeds to help fund the expansion of broadband Internet access in rural areas.

The House also defeated by voice vote an amendment by Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, that would have required cable companies to let consumers buy individual channels - instead of packages of channels - for anything not already included in its basic service.

Harris said the channel packages currently offered by cable TV companies were similar to grocery stores requiring shoppers to get cigarettes with their milk and cereal.

"I don't like the fact that I have to pay for stuff that really has no redeeming content on cable TV," Harris said.

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TV bill is SB284.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov