With FCC deciding that cable service and cable modem service are ...
With FCC deciding that cable service and cable modem service are mutually exclusive, only way to preserve and protect local authority is for Commission to recognize that cable modem service has no special privileges and is subject to local…
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laws and regulations governing use of rights-of-way (ROW), coalition of local govts. and organizations said. In reply comments to agency’s cable modem inquiry, Alliance of Local Organizations Against Preemption (ALOAP) contended there was no basis in fact or law for rejection of local franchising authority over cable modem services. Local govts. had right and responsibility to protect public interest by imposing conditions and obtaining compensation for ROW use, coalition said, and localities also had right to regulate business service. To justify any attempt to preempt local authority Commission had to show preemption would advance federal policy goals, ALOAP said: “By the Commission’s own admission, deployment of cable modem service is well advanced.” So fundamental issue isn’t deployment, but demand for broadband, it said. Moreover, Communications Act offers no authority for preemption, ALOAP said, and actually affirms local authority over cable modem service. Coalition said 5th U.S. Appeals Court, New Orleans, had ruled while reviewing “closely analogous” case of FCC’s Open Video System (OVS) rules that agency couldn’t preclude local franchising of OVS operators. It said industry commentators hadn’t provided any “actual” evidence that franchise fees on cable modem service exceeded local govt. costs. “Local governments expend enormous sums on acquiring, improving and maintaining the public rights-of-way every year,” coalition said. As for question of repayment of past franchise fees, ALOAP said Commission should leave it to state and local law because Title I didn’t grant FCC authority over cable modem franchise fees.