Cities Weigh In Against Franchise Changes

CITIES WEIGH IN AGAINST FRANCHISE CHANGES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Alliance for Community Media filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Thursday arguing that the FCC's video franchise decision was arbitrary and capricious and that the Commission does not have the authority to regulate local franchising authorities, saying that the Cable Act gives that responsibility to state and local governments. In December 2006, the FCC smoothed telcos' path to video franchises after a bill backed by Republican lawmakers to do much the same died in Congress over the network-neutrality issue. The FCC's rule changes were also the result of an ongoing inquiry into whether local franchising authorities were unreasonably denying franchises and thus slowing the rollout of competition to cable and broadband service.
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