Save Access

from: Star Tribune

Our View: Local cable and all its services are threatened

Rick Talbot And Steve Larson

CTV-15 celebrates its 15th anniversary this month but may have to close its door soon after that if proposed federal legislation becomes law.

For 15 years, CTV has provided equipment and training for more than 3,000 residents of the cities of Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Little Canada, Mounds View, New Brighton, North Oaks, Roseville, St. Anthony and Shoreview to produce their own video programs. Cable subscribers in these 10 cities have had an opportunity to watch high school football and city parades, local hockey games and public hearings on the disposition of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) property, as well as concerts of the St. Anthony Civic Orchestra, the Roseville Community Band and the Northern Lights Variety Band. From "Disability Viewpoints" to "Trek Talk," local community producers have had an opportunity to share their interests and their passions with their neighbors.

NATOA ACTION ALERT

A TALE OF TWO TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILLS

ISSUE:
I. House of Representatives
The Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 under consideration in the House would strip local governments of their authority to franchise their public rights-of-way for video/cable services and impose a national franchising scheme. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would oversee and second-guess all local rights-of-way management practices and customer service issues. It would allow new market entrants to pick and choose the neighborhoods they want to serve while bypassing all others completely.

We have some report-backs with media and articles from the May 24th actions. Check it out!

from: CNET - go to the link to see photos

Protesters face off with Verizon, AT&T
By Declan McCullagh
Story last modified Wed May 24 17:51:02 PDT 2006

Protesters lined streets on both coasts Wednesday to bring public awareness to the telecommunications policy debates currently going on in Washington, D.C., and to show opposition to the phone companies reportedly providing customer records without a court order to the National Security Agency.

Verizon Can Hear Protesters Now
from: MultiChannel News

By Steve Donohue 5/24/2006 5:22:00 PM

New York -- Chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, greedy telcos have to go,” about 75 public-access-programming advocates rallied in a protest outside Verizon Communications Inc. headquarters here Wednesday.

from: National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors

Action Alert

House Floor Vote Soon On TelecomBill:

Urge Your Member To Vote “NO” on COPE

As approved by the United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce on April 26, 2006, the Communications, Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006 (COPE / Barton-Rush) Bill (HR.5252) appears headed for a final House floor vote in early June. While we had expected this action to occur weeks ago, a delay was caused when House Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner asked that the COPE bill be referred to the Judiciary Committee for further hearings. The House Parliamentarian denied Chairman Sensenbrenner’s request for referral on May 17th.

from: Seattle Times

Ill effects of a gated cyber world

If computer-network providers are allowed to hijack the Internet, the damage will go much deeper than the consumers' wallets. Democracy will be at risk with the inevitable limiting of voices if Internet neutrality is not ensured.

from: CNET

Hanging up on the competition

By Martin Chavez

Like many elected officials, the nation's mayors have taken a renewed interest in telecommunications as the so-called video reform legislation, sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and urged by the nation's telephone companies, is considered in the U.S. Congress. And no wonder. The legislation will likely determine the extent to which our constituents will ever benefit from broadband competition.

from: Independent Weekly

MAY 17, 2006

Technobarons of the 21st century

Telephone and cable companies are trying to create a vertical monopoly. If they succeed, they'll destroy the free market, along with everything else we love about the Internet.

BY FIONA MORGAN

John D. Rockefeller realized that the way to control the oil market was to control the transport of oil. So in 1871, he colluded with the railroad industry to form a cartel called the South Improvement Company. The rate to ship oil doubled, but Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company would get rebates for every gallon of oil shipped, even those shipped by his competitors. South would also collect information on the destinations, costs and dates of competitors' oil shipments.

from:The Black Commentator

The Black Stake in the Internet
By Bruce Dixon, The Black Commentator
Posted on May 17, 2006

America's black misleadership class, which is nearly indistinguishable from its black business class, has struck again. In a stunning coup, a mainline African-American voting rights group has been enlisted on the side of AT&T and other telecom monopolies in their legislative push to privatize the internet and roll back hundreds of agreements with local communities that force these monopolies to extend internet and cable service to poor and rural communities around the country.