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February 19, 2007

Video bill

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Political Insider has been keeping up with the status of HB-227, aka the video bill. Here's the latest:

A Don Quixote takes on AT&T:

Bankoff would have that extra 1 percent — perhaps $10 million to $12 million a year — spent on promoting the arts in public schools. Two of the three public high schools with the highest college board scores are arts-centered charter schools. The top one operates out of a warehouse in Augusta.
You had to expect it: Video franchise bill hits TV:
The first campaign ad of the ‘08 session of the state Legislature has hit the small screen. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? The sponsoring group is called TV4US. They want passage of H.B.227, the statewide video franchise bill that would permit AT&T to use its phone lines to send TV programs and movies into your house. They’d be in direct competition with cable TV and satellite TV companies.
Related link: The flip side of network TV, from AJC:
The station [PeopleTV] faces the serious prospect of losing that money, given that the Georgia General Assembly is considering big changes in state franchising rules. New legislation would partly preserve channels that are used for public access, educational or government purposes — known as PEG channels — but wouldn't maintain funding after a certain period of time. In Atlanta, the number of PEG channels also would be cut from five to three.

Posted by Mel at February 19, 2007 5:21 AM

Comments

I hate Comcast, but unless I want to switch to Satellite I don't have any other delivery option right now. It is estimated that competition for cable tv (or whatever you'd call it if it comes over phone lines instead) could save Georgia consumers about $100/year. 6,000 or so Atlanta cable consumers could give that $100 to PeopleTV to make up their expected revenue loss from this bill.

Seeing as how Comcast just recently raised rates while at the same time eliminating channels from their digital lineup that I actually watched to make room for more HD channels that I can't even view with my TV, I'm ready for a change.

Does anyone know if the counties and municipalities can set up a competitive environment on their own? Is it that AT&T can't negotiate with the existing franchisers, or that they wont?

Posted by: chris [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 19, 2007 4:39 AM

My understanding is that avoiding negotiations with local municipalities and not having to create PEG channels for individual municipalities will save AT&T an estimated $500 million.

I favor more competition in that market, for sure. Comcast is crap.

But I also wonder why it's fair to AT&T's competitiors to give AT&T what amounts to a $500 million gift when Comcast, DirectTV, et al don't also receive that gift.

Posted by: rusty [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 19, 2007 9:30 AM

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