Watchdogs Want to Keep ROW Power, PEG, NATOA Chief Says
Local telecom regulators converge in Washington this week for the annual NATOA conference amid challenges to their power as the Bells push for national video franchising. Discussions will focus on the impending telecom rewrite, said NATOA Pres. Coralie Wilson. Threats to local authority are cyclical, said NATOA Exec. Dir. Libby Beaty: “This is not something that is unprecedented at all.”
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With bills impinging on local authorities cropping up in Congress, the NATOA conference is “incredibly fortuitous,” said Wilson, exec. dir. of the North Suburban Communications Commission, a 10-city consortium near St. Paul, Minn. Local regulators get a chance to “sit down” with members of Congress and make their points, she said. Beaty said local govt. faced significant challenges before the 1984 and 1992 Telecom Acts. Before the 1996 Act, local govts. faced less than friendly proposals, she said: “Some of this feels like deja vu.”
Wilson told us change in the regulatory landscape is inevitable, but called it a “cheap shot” to say cities are the stumbling block to deployment of advanced services. Verizon will take a long time to build fiber networks to the home, she said, and “we all know that SBC is having trouble with their technology.” She admitted that as video programming migrates to IP platforms and IP technology sees more use to transmit programming, cable franchising “as we know it today” may not be the best way for local govts. to ensure the most people get the most service at reasonable prices.
But, Wilson said, local govts. want to keep their sway over their rights-of-way: “One of the things that people forget is the public rights of way are in my front yard. You can’t have the FCC or the state Public Utilities Commission managing it.” Congress should recognize that as new services roll out technical and consumer issues will persist: “Who do these folks call if they have a billing problem? Is the FCC going to take these phone calls? I don’t think so.” Local govts. want Congress to give such issues serious consideration before passing laws, she said. Local officials know “there is a call for changes,” Libby said. But there also is a “very strong sense that it’s imperative” that local govts. should be part of that discussion: “We don’t intend to go quietly.”
Public, educational and govt. (PEG) access channels have been a key tool for local govts., said Wilson, and they are under threat. SBC and Verizon have been pushing at the state level to eliminate not only local franchising but also support for PEG, she said. “They appear to be pursuing that goal at the federal level” as well, she said: “I hope that we will be able to impress upon leaders in Washington how important it is to preserve PEG.”
SBC has never said cities are roadblocks, a spokesman said: “Rather, it’s the legacy cable rules -- and the cable companies themselves trying to protect their annual price hikes -- that pose the greatest barrier to competition to consumers.”
Sen. Launtenberg (D-N.J.) will keynote the Sept. 22 opening session. FTC Comr. Jonathan Leibowitz will discuss competition issues in the same session. Save for a few FCC staffers, the Commission will not have a big presence. Most FCC commissioners will be at the NAB Radio Conference, said a local govt. official: “When it comes [to choosing] between the industry and the local governments we get the short end of the stick anytime.”
One panel will discuss whether technology will make local telecom oversight obsolete. Wilson, a cable regulator for 30 plus years, doesn’t think so: “I have been told almost since the beginning that my job was going to be obsolete. I'm still here.” Connectivity, consumer protection, ROW management and other fundamental issues will remain no matter how technology changes, she said.