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from: Callahan's Diary

Lev Gonick: SB 117 vs. I-Nets

A very important point yesterday at Bytes From Lev:

Missing from almost all the analysis is the single most important part of existing franchise agreements and those are the provisions that relate to so-called I-Nets (Institutional Networks). In the first round of franchise agreements with Cable providers, the City template franchise agreement for providing rights to lay out fiber included a public set-a-side of 6 or more fiber pairs to be used to connect public institutions like schools, government buildings, public health care services, and other public institutions. The provision was slightly ahead of its time but in the past 10 years or so, enlightened Cities (and Counties) are significantly leveraging their negotiated rights to use I-Net infrastructure.

from: Daytona Beach News Journal

New Legislation, Same Old Phone Company

April 23, 2007
By Brad Ashwell

Among the things that never seem to change in Florida: The Gators and Seminoles will always feud and our local Bell phone company will always be lobbying Tallahassee for a new rate hike, deregulation bill or clever tax loophole.

from: Herald Tribune

Cable debate down to wire
By LLOYD DUNKELBERGER

H-T CAPITAL BUREAU

TALLAHASSEE -- Cable companies are using the television airwaves to lobby against a bill that would make it easy for phone companies to compete in the cable market.

Phone companies are using their own high-priced lobbying campaign to promote the legislation.

from: Belleville News Democrat

AT&T's cable service push draws intense debate at Capitol

RYAN KEITH
Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Jay Rubinic doesn't care how he gets it. He just wants his cable TV.

Rubinic said he's fed up with his current cable provider, Comcast Corp., after a recent outage stretched into nearly two weeks of poor service and frustrating waits for a repairman. But because Comcast has a franchise agreement with Chicago and dominates that market, Rubinic feels he has no other cable choice.

from: Representative Susan Lynn

Build-out is a Deal Breaker

Representative Susan Lynn
Sunday, April 22, 2007

Of all the issues large and small one matter seems to be a deal breaker in the question of whether we will have competition among television service providers. Build-out, or forcing a company to build-out service to unprofitable areas, is a point so contentious that inclusion may make or break the future of the bill currently before the Tennessee legislature.

from: Cleveland.com

Cable TV control at stake in Ohio
Local governments, telecom giants tangle over statewide contract

Sunday, April 22, 2007
Aaron Marshall
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus- Imagine your monthly TV bill dropping as video competitors fight for your business. You wear out your thumbs flipping through channels that never end, and cutting-edge technologies put you in the middle of the action on the football field. It could be a TV junkie's nirvana.

from: Jackson Sun

Statewide cable franchise bill should be defeated

Tennessee lawmakers should join those of 12 other states and defeat a bill that would grant AT&T a statewide cable TV franchise. There is no reason the telecommunications giant can't live by the current rules that give control over cable franchising to local municipalities. Only local communities can best decide what needs to be done in their communities.

from: The Ledger

Phone, Cable TV Giants Battle

By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau
Sunday, April 22, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Cable companies are using the television airwaves to lobby against a bill that would make it easy for phone companies to compete in the cable market.

from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

AT&T doles out $54,000 ahead of cable bill debate
Doyle, lawmakers say money won't affect stands on deregulation legislation

By STEVEN WALTERS
swalters@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 21, 2007

Madison - Communications giant AT&T pushed a controversial bill to have state government license cable systems by showering more than $54,000 in campaign cash on dozens of lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle over the past 15 months.

from: Herald Tribune

Cable bill could mean a windfall for Verizon

Debate over the legislation is one of the most intense of the session.
By DEVONA WALKER

The consumer broadband choice bill winding its way through the Florida Legislature could save telephone-company-