KoolMoe
Aw Man
Premium
join:2001-02-14
Annapolis, MD
clubs:
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Speakeasy
| That's not a very convincing argument.
I somewhat agree that municiple franchises may be irrelevent these days with, what, four cable providers. If all the PA muni's sign with Comcast except one, what competitor is going to service that one holdout community?
Such a setup made much more sense back when there were multiple cable providers willing to service any area they could access.
BUT I think each municipality has every right to ensure their community is 'provided for'. Maybe a Statewide Franchise IS a good idea, but the franchisee should have to agree to related conditions, perhaps like:
-ensuring every community has the same service options as every other.
-every community has reasonable access to Public Access facilities
-there are enough support options for each community
-service level agreements
etc.
Likewise, the State should ensure a portion of the franchise fee makes it back to each community (based on the subscribers?) so they don't suddenly lose that income and so the State is less-likely to approve the concept solely due to 'dollar-sign eyes'.
KM |
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