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from: MCDAC Blog

Sen. Bill 117 & the Ohio Constitution's Impairment of Contracts Clause

One of the bills being talked about in the General Assembly is Sen. Bill 117 which would apparently wipe out local franchise agreements between cable tv providers and local governments. Apparently members of the General Assembly are taking some heat from mayors and other local government officials. You can read about their pressuring the Ohio Senate by clicking on the link in this entry's title.

from: Uncommon Sense TV

Information on Ohio Senate Bill SB 117 and State Video Franchising

April 24th, 2007
by Andy in Media and Democracy

A briefing on SB 117 from Walter & Haverfield’s client newsletter

from: Brewed Fresh Daily

Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone’s testimony to the Ohio Senate on SB117

Councilman Zone emailed a copy of his testimony:

Good Afternoon Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee. My name is Matt Zone and I am a Councilmember of the City of Cleveland and Chair of the Public Utilities Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today and to express the strong opposition of the City of Cleveland to Senate Bill 117.

from: The Free Press

Oppose SB 177

April 24, 2007

The Ohio Community Computing Network encourages you to oppose Ohio Senate Bill 117 (see below). This bill would eliminate local franchising for video services. There are many ramifications to the passage of this bill including: elimination of PEG access channels (we provide telecourses and share guest speakers on Educational Access), disincentives to build broadband in rural and low-income areas (effecting our ability to serve these areas), removal of local consumer protection (no service requirements, support of community networks, etc.), removal of local control of rights of way (ATT can put a big ugly switcher station on your tree lawn), loss of local revenue, perhaps a quarter million dollars annually in Columbus (pick the City service you want to see cut)

from: The Plain Dealer

Lawmakers beat partial retreat on statewide video franchising

Posted by Aaron Marshall April 24, 2007 18:34PM
Categories: Breaking News

After getting an earful from local mayors as well as the public access crowd, state lawmakers retreated Tuesday on several of the more controversial elements of a bill setting up a statewide franchising agreement for video service providers.

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: 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: Columbus Dispatch

Channel-surfers may get a break
Bill simplifying franchise fee may cut costs

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:32 AM
By Alan Johnson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio consumers could benefit from more choices, greater competition and lower prices because of what appears to be an undeclared truce in a long-standing turf battle between telephone and cable companies.

Cleveland Passes Resolution against State Franchise Bill

The City of Cleveland and others have gone on record in opposition to this Bill and Mayor Jackson has been very strong, along with City Council Utility Chair Matt Zone in stating the City's position.

Included here is the Resolution of Opposition supported by the Mayor and Council and the Mayor's letter & City Statement in Opposition.

from: Local Voice Ohio

Local Voice Ohio launched their website, localvoiceohio.org today, April 12, 2007 to be an organizing tool and information center in the coalition's battle to stop Big Telephone and Big Cable from bankrupting the public interest in Ohio in the area of video franchising.

Local Voice Ohio ("LVO") is a statewide coalition of municipalities, townships, the Ohio Chapter of the National Association of Telecommunications Officer and Advisors (OH-NATOA), the Ohio/Kentucky Chapter of the Alliance for Community Media (OK-Alliance) and other affected parties who are coming together to oppose Ohio Senate Bill 117 ("SB 117"), introduced on March 15, 2007.