New FCC ruling has community television representatives worried

NEW FCC RULING HAS COMMUNITY TELEVISION REPRESENTATIVES WORRIED
[SOURCE: Sun Newspapers, AUTHOR: Grant Boelter]
When you pay your cable bill each month, a portion of what you pay goes toward televising local government programming, as well as building and maintaining the technology infrastructure used by your city's government buildings. However a recent rule change adopted by the Federal Communications Commission aimed at fostering more competition in the cable market has local cable authorities worried that the money will no longer be there to provide the same level of government programming as we see now. "We're all for competition. We want competition because we feel it would be in the best interest of our residents," said Lakeville Cable Coordinator Jeff Leuders, who also is the president of the Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunications Administrators. However, Leuders said the FCC ruling could be problematic because cities may not be able to require cable providers to extend services to all residents, as well as to provide enough money for government programming and technology infrastructure. Also, it could set up two different regulatory systems, one for those already in the market and one for those entering the market.
http://mnsun.com/articles/2007/05/03/news/cw03cable.txt