The Case for Local Control of TV Deals

THE CASE FOR LOCAL CONTROL OF TV DEALS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Hiltzik]
[Commentary] I have a simple rule of thumb for determining whether my cable TV service is overpriced: Is it a monopoly? Then it's overpriced. And let's face it: Virtually every cable TV operation in the country is a monopoly. In principle, therefore, we should welcome the efforts of the phone companies Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. to offer cable-style video services to the home in competition with the Comcasts and Time Warner Cables of the world. The record shows that when a genuine rival enters a cable TV market, subscription rates plummet. But the question raised by a bill in the state Assembly is whether it's necessary to wipe out all local regulation of cable services in order to achieve the nirvana of video competition. AB 2987, sponsored by Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), chairman of the Utilities and Commerce Committee, would do just that. The bill would replace our current regime of local regulation with a statewide system endowed with scarcely a dime's worth of enforcement authority. Local officials have reacted predictably to this threat to their only leverage against the big companies — leverage that has allowed them to demand benefits such as public access channels and free video and Internet connections for government buildings, schools and libraries, as well as enforceable guarantees of service to underserved neighborhoods and communities. "This bill is not good public policy for California," says Lori Panzino-Tillery, division chief of the franchise program for San Bernardino County and president of the National Assn. of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. "It would harm technology to schools, it doesn't provide for advanced services for those who don't have it and it doesn't enhance broadband deployment." The cable and phone companies keep talking about their desire to face each other on a level playing field, but who's keeping it level for the consumer?
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-golden17apr17,1,48684...
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