Video Franchise Battle Moves To New Jersey

[SOURCE: National Journal Insider Update, AUTHOR: Chloe Albanesius]
The battle over television franchising authority has moved to New Jersey. Draft legislation there would remove franchising responsibility from local communities and give it to the state. The fate of the legislation appeared in jeopardy Monday after a hearing on the matter was delayed for a week. The Assembly's Telecommunications and Utilities Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on a bill that would allow telephone companies looking to enter the TV market to secure statewide rather local franchises for service. The committee’s chairman, Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, a law professor at Seton Hall University, proposes increasing the state's 2 percent franchise fee to 4 percent. Three percent of that would be put in general funds for towns, 0.5 percent would go toward city governments, and the remaining 0.5 percent would help fund senior healthcare efforts. He also called for telephone companies seeking video franchises to provide television service to all New Jersey communities within six years. Verizon Communications has started construction in 99 of the state's more than 500 communities with franchising authority.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-IBNE1133467576208.html