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from: Suncoast News

Cable TV Bill Cuts Counties' Revenue

By CARL ORTH The Suncoast News

Published: Mar 20, 2007

Counties face a dimmer financial future if legislation creating a statewide cable TV franchise becomes law.

But a west Pasco lawmaker thinks the plan would help lower viewers' bills.

The county stands to lose up to $4 million in franchise fee revenue from Bright House Networks and Verizon Communications, Senior Assistant County Attorney Jane M. Fagan told county commissioners recently.

Bright House has about six years left on its franchise agreement with the county, while Verizon has about 10 years, County Attorney Robert Sumner said.

The county charges the companies a fee for burying or stringing cable along local roads.

Those county contracts might end abruptly if legislators approve the statewide franchise bill.

Cable TV industry officials are pushing for statewide franchises. They say that forging agreements with each county or city in a service area stifles innovation and forces providers to pass along the fees to customers, executives say.

Port Richey lawmaker John Legg supports the concept, too, because "a state franchise is good for the consumer," he said.

Cable companies that have franchise agreements with counties or cities enjoy virtual monopolies, giving them no incentive to hold the line on rate increases, the Republican representative said. "Rates are going up higher every year."

Conversely, cable costs have dropped as much as half in states that have gone to a statewide franchise system, Legg said.

The lawmaker said local government concerns are justified, "but we hope we can work those out."

As written, the franchise legislation would give Verizon, Bright House and other providers the option of terminating their pacts with local governments early, probably by next year.

Sumner said allowing the state to pre-empt those contracts is "unfair" and "unconstitutional."

"We spent a lot of time and money" negotiating the franchise deals, the county attorney added.

Not only might the county lose franchise fee revenue, it might have to start paying to broadcast its public meetings and other programming, Sumner said.

Both Bright House and Verizon chip in $200,000 toward the gear to broadcast the meetings as a condition of their franchise agreements.

The companies also set aside three public-access channels. The state legislation, if passed in its current form, might allow the providers to take back at least one of those channels, Sumner said.

Similar legislation was defeated in 2006, said County Commissioner Jack Mariano, who lobbied against a statewide franchise.

This year, however, "the momentum is there to pass the bill," Sumner said.

The best Pasco probably can hope for is to attach an amendment to the bill that would exempt existing county franchises, Sumner said. Verizon and Bright House then would be obligated to uphold their local contracts until they expire.

In the meantime, county commissioners voted to send a resolution voicing their displeasure to state lawmakers. Other counties and the Florida Association of Counties have done much the same thing.