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Note: Statewide video franchising passed in Virginia in 2006. In this first phase of service roll-outs, Verizon is said to be red-lining low income communities in two major cities.

from: Daily Press

Verizon: There's a new competitor in town

Note: below are excerpts from the full bulletin

from: Mondaq News

United States: Communications Law Bulletin -- March, 2007

04 April 2007
Article by Charles H. Kennedy

The Month in Brief

Among other developments in the month of March, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held rescheduled oversight hearings of the Federal Communications Commission (the "FCC" or the "Commission"). This was the first time in four years that the full panel of FCC commissioners had appeared before Committee members, and Democratic members had harsh words for the Commission generally and Chairman Martin in particular.

from: CCTV

Verizon Presses Hard to Change Cable Franchising in the Commonwealth

Verizon, having failed to change cable franchising in Congress, is now pushing state legislation that would remove local control over the public rights of way and threaten funding for Public, Educational, and Governmental access channels and funding.

from: Boston Business Journal

Verizon Wants Filings Kept From Public

Todd, Wallack, Boston Business Journal
March 30, 2007

Over the last 14 months, Verizon Communications Inc. has launched TV service in 39 cities and towns across Massachusetts and won approval to enter four more.

But the phone giant doesn't want anyone to know how many customers have signed up for the service.

from: The Buffalo News

BUFFALO’S BUSINESS
Powers jostle over Verizon TV service
David Robinson
Updated: 03/25/07 8:25 AM

Last spring, Verizon started laying the fiber-optic cables to homes in Hamburg, Orchard Park and West Seneca that not only can carry faster Internet traffic but also cable television.

Note: In NY State both Verizon and the cable companies are against the current legislation which calls for strong build-out requirements, progressive PEG provisions, a level of local control and net neutrality protections. A fourth NY state bill sets a 30 day shot clock and preserves local control, also not favored by Verizon. By the contrast - the Florida Bill is terrible.

From: CED Magazine

from: Black Agenda Report

March 14, 2007

Black on Black Political Crime
Black Lawmakers Digitally Redline African-Americans

By BRUCE DIXON

Last year big cable and bigger telephone companies deployed platoons of lobbyists and up to a hundred million dollars in an attempt to enact national cable franchise legislation. They greased its way through the House of Representatives, proving along the way that willful ignorance and lots of corporate cash could make two thirds of the Congressional Black Caucus vote for the digital broadband redlining of their own communities. The power play of big phone and the cable guys stalled in the US Senate, thanks to a national grassroots campaign campaign spearheaded by Free Press, a national not-for-profit media reform group.

from: People First

Overall Strategy

Verizon has introduced a bill into the Massachusetts State Legislature which is a disaster in more ways than one could even count, and they are putting a full-court lobbying and media press on to pass it, with extraordinary local and national dollars behind it. We need to kill this bill, but it’s going to take a seriously organized effort to win.

from: Asbury Park Press

More bucks spent on lobbying, or is it just more disclosure?

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/9/07

BY GREGORY J. VOLPE
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

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TRENTON — Money spent on lobbying in New Jersey nearly doubled last year, as state leaders grappled with the beleaguered budget, tried to reform a tax system that has yielded the nation's highest property tax bills and voted to allow competition for cable TV services.

from: IndyBay

California PUC Elects to Not Fully Implement Cable Legislation AB 2987

by ron cooper
Monday Mar 5th, 2007 2:05 PM

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has rejected the oversight role the CA Legislature thought it had mandated in AB 2987. In a perfunctory vote, the state PUC rejected the protests of California cities and consumer groups, deciding against any direct oversight of the state's new statewide video-service franchises for phone and cable companies. PEG access provisions of the bill are now threatened.