When the Night Meets the Morning Sun

[Commentary] How do we know that the promises made by Comcast and NBC to ensure their marriage will be broken? Because cable operators break promises, contracts, rules and laws all the time. Why? Because they know that hardly anybody is going to enforce contracts and regulatory agencies have a tendency to sit on their hands and frequently won't enforce their own state laws.

Case in point: Over three years ago, the Indiana legislature passed a state law that included the provision for local communities to petition the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC) for more PEG channels and for funding. Since that time no petitions have been filed. Why? Because the IURC has yet to create the petition process.

Now, more than ever, we need the Community Access Preservation Act (H.R. 3745, the CAP Act). And now more than ever we need a strong PEG presence at the FCC. For that reason, I and several of my colleagues have formed a new organization, American Community Television or ACT. We have formed it as a 501 (c) (4), American Community Television, so that we will face no limits on our lobbying activities. And that is our only interest, lobbying and helping others lobby.