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from: State of Sunshine

Florida Senate Cable Television Bill

In the same committee, SB 998 by Sen. Mike Bennett is on the agenda. This bill would remove local government oversight of cable television (well, “video”) franchises and provide a state-level franchise process. A quick history lesson: When cable television was first developed, cable companies established franchises with local governments. In exchange for paying “franchise fees” to the local government, ostensibly for the right to run cable along public rights of way, the cable company received a monopoly in a geographic area. There were a lot of cable companies back then.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the industry consolidated and now there are a handful of cable television providers. The technology also improved greatly, with the advent of digital television. Now TV signals could be broadcast down fiber-optic cables, and telephone companies were leading the switch over to fiber-optic to make their network better. Thus, telephone companies can now provide TV service. But, they still had to operate under the old laws of going to each community for a franchise. Well, there are 67 counties and more than 400 cities in Florida - that’s a lot of work.

However, if they have statewide franchise, they can pick and choose where they provide service. It became clear that lower-income areas, with a lower subscriber density, would be ignored. Thus, Sen. Mike Fasano amended SB 998 to require new video providers to serve at least 50% of the low-income neighborhoods in their service area within 5 years. The House bill, HB 529 by Rep. Trey Traviesa, has already passed the House and does not have the low-income provision. The low-income provision removes the primary reason to oppose the bill.