Pay-TV Bill OKd by California State Senate

PAY-TV BILL OK'd BY CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James S. Granelli]
Shrugging off objections from cities and counties, the California state Senate late Wednesday voted 33 to 4 to approve a measure that takes oversight of pay television away from local governments and consolidates control with state regulators. The bill, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign as early as today, is intended to make it easier for big phone companies to compete against big cable companies to provide TV services. The bill is supported by phone and cable companies that have had to secure approval from each municipality in which they offer programming. They complain that local officials make unreasonable demands and take too long to approve agreements. If more than 300 changes to the bill pass muster with the Assembly, the legislation would make California the eighth state to streamline its franchising rules. "This is a very complicated bill, and it's outrageous that all these amendments were made in the last days and we never were allowed to see them," said Megan Taylor, spokeswoman for the League of California Cities. The carriers controlled the process so thoroughly, Taylor said, that "on amendments we would send over to the Legislature, we'd hear back, 'Sorry, but AT&T said no.' " California would invest the Public Utilities Commission with the authority to grant pay-TV franchises statewide, beginning no later than April 1. Cities and counties would retain the power to enforce service agreements and would continue to get a 5% cut of cable revenue. Some local workers could lose their jobs as franchising authority moves to the state. The utilities commission, meanwhile, probably would hire as many as 200 new employees at a cost of as much as $3 million a year, paid by the companies regulated. The bill would keep intact a 5% fee that municipalities get from cable TV revenue for using public rights of way. But local officials worry that it would allow the state in a financial crisis to take away that revenue, estimated at $300 million statewide.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-cable31aug31,1,552947...
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