There are three things in life that are inevitable: death, taxes and the advancement of technology. And there is no better example of the latter than the movement towards franchise reform at virtually all levels of government.
The day of municipal governments controlling the entry and exit of different communications services, be it phone, video or Internet access, is coming to an inevitable end. Cable and telecom companies used to have to get licensed by each and every city, but a new law can shortcut that process by getting one state license that will apply to all cities across the state.
While political subdivisions will fight this coming change, the flow of reform over the last year testifies to its inevitability.
In Texas last summer, the Legislature passed meaningful franchise reform setting up a statewide system to replace the antiquated municipal requirements. Now competitors can invest resources in providing service rather than negotiating franchises from the East Texas piney woods to its western deserts. In fact it has already started. New infrastructure for high-speed Internet is popping up all over Texas, and as it does, service is improving and prices are going down. Supply and demand anyone?
Right on its heels have been US Congressional hearings on franchise reform.
But the real evidence of the inevitability of franchise reform has come from the Federal Communications Commission, which has decided to actually do the right thing.
The response to the recent FCC call for comment on franchise reform was impressive. Filings such as the one by the Institute for Policy Innovation noted, “. . . state intervention to free up the franchise, while giving due regard to the historic and important role of municipalities in safeguarding local concerns and community values, does indeed spur immediate competition and advance consumer welfare.”
The FCC has the ability, will, expertise, and most of all, the motivation to establish significant new parameters and guidelines from which franchise reform can flow.
Franchise reform is as inevitable as . . . well . . . death and taxes.