Latest House Telecom Draft Bill Tilts More Toward Bell Companies

[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
The House Commerce Committee staff is circulating a new draft of legislation intended to reform the country's telecommunications laws. And, apparently, the baby Bells love it. The legislation 1) waters down earlier language on network neutrality to allow providers of broadband-based television services to control the Internet content available to customers over such platforms; 2) calculates video franchise fees in a way that is more favorable to the Bells -- meaning less revenue in the coffers of localities; 3) includes provisions requiring the FCC to review its broadband video regulations every four years and eliminate any that are “no longer necessary as the result of meaningful economic competition; and 4) does NOT mandate that the Bells make their television services available to all citizens in communities where they offer it. An earlier draft of the bill was a collaboration by both Republican and Democratic leaders on the committee; the new draft is the work of staffers for Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI).
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-VYMA1131128169410.html

Find the bill at:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/news/11032005_Broadband.pdf