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from: TMP Cafe - Art Brodsky

The House Votes on Net Neutrality
By Art Brodsky

There is an old cliche that the score of a game can be deceiving. In the case of the House vote on Net Neutrality Thursday night, that cliche doesn't work. The 269-152 vote is as bad as it looks.

But another cliche says it ain't over until it's over. And it ain't over.

from: Daily Herald

Suburbs to fight federal cable TV plan

By Lisa Smith
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Saturday, June 10, 2006

Suburban officials said Friday a proposed federal telecommunications law would undermine their authority to establish agreements for cable TV service.

Municipalities also could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars annually — $1.5 million in Naperville’s case — on franchise agreements with Comcast and other cable companies that serve residents and businesses if the measure is signed into law.

"Broadband Reports said users of its online forums learned that the basic bundle of 170-channel TV service plus 1.5-megabit-per-second Internet access would cost $85 a month. The top tier of more than 200 channels with 6-megabit-per-second access would cost $114 a month." One wonders if this is the $30-40 dollar savings Upton and other COPE supporters touted on the floor of the House when voting the Bill through.

from: New York Times

June 9, 2006
House Backs Telecom Bill Favoring Phone Companies

By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, June 8

The House of Representatives approved the most extensive telecommunications legislation in a decade on Thursday, largely ratifying the policy agenda of the nation's largest telephone companies.

from: Democracy Now

Friday, June 9th, 2006
House Passes Controversial COPE Telecom Bill, Rejects Amendment to Protect Net Neutrality

The House voted on legislation yesterday that could determine the future of the Internet and public access television in this country. We examine the implications of the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act - known as the COPE bill - with Anthony Riddle of the Alliance for Community Media. [includes rush transcript] The House voted on legislation yesterday that could determine the future of the internet and public access television in this country. In a vote of 321 to 101, the House voted to pass the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act, known as the COPE bill.

from: Pioneer Press

Proposed law could add cable choices but doom local programs
Congress aims to cut cable TV bills

BY MEGGEN LINDSAY and JASON HOPPIN
Pioneer Press

Watching your kids' sports games on television and tuning in to your local city council meeting could become a practice of the past.

from: Free Press

Consumer Groups Decry House Passage of Video Bill That Makes Average Consumers Worse Off

From Free Press, June 9, 2006

Consumer groups decried House passage late today of telecommunications legislation that will leave many consumers worse off, facing cable rate hikes, declines in service quality, inadequate consumer protections, and reduced access to competitive Internet content and services.

from: Web Pro News

House Turns Deaf Ear To Net Neutrality

Jason Lee Miller
Staff Writer
Published: 2006-06-09

Despite the flurry of phone calls, emails, videos and pleas from a wide base of passionate pro-Net Neutrality constituents, representing hundreds of thousands of people from all political persuasions and hundreds of consumer groups, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives crushed an amendment to safeguard an equal opportunity Internet.

Very interesting, as Drew points out, he was the ONLY reporter present after the House vote on major telecommunications legislation.

from: DrewClark.com

Friday, June 09, 2006

The House passed the telecommunications legislation of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, just past 10 p.m. on Thursday. The final vote tally on the bill was 321-101. Among Republicans, 215 supported it, with only 8 opposed. A majority of Democrats, 108 versus 92, voted for passage. The one independent voted no. Earlier in the evening, an amendment seeking to strengthen the Barton bill's "network neutrality" provisions failed 269-152. The amendment had been offered by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Note: This AP wire story reads like a Telcom press release, quoting only majority leaders and astroturf spokesperson Mike McCurry.

Lawmakers promise lower cable bills under telecom bill

JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Monopolies in many cable TV markets could end under House-passed legislation that supporters said would increase competition and drive down prices.

The far-reaching telecommunications legislation, passed 321-101 Thursday night, would encourage telephone companies and others to enter video markets by scrapping the time-consuming system where prospective providers must negotiate individually with every locality.