Video franchise reform efforts are sweeping the country. As many as 18 states have either enacted legislation, or have taken regulatory action, to allow for statewide franchises to be issued to providers of video services, reforming the decades-old and antiquated city-by-city method of issuing exclusive franchise video services.
The latest state is Wisconsin, which saw a year-long battle conclude this month with passage of legislation that, in the words of former Wisconsin Public Service Commissioner Joe Mettner writing in The Capitol Times, “aims to provide consumers a choice in video service providers, and in selecting bundled packages of broadband, video and telecommunications services. The consuming public favors video service competition by large margins.”
He’s right.
Verizon and AT&T have been taking advantage of the relaxed regulatory climate by investing billions of dollars across the country. And that should not surprise anyone. For years most companies were frozen out of the video business either by regulatory fiat or by exclusive franchise agreements with municipalities—limiting consumer choice.
Moreover, technology has made the old laws obsolete. Not too many years ago the only game in town was a wire from a distribution center to the home, but now there are alternatives through Internet services that are rapidly gaining on the old hard-wired systems. More competition = more choice.
Wisconsin still saw the usual battle lines form. The cities opposed reform, fearing the loss of the protection-racket license fees that they have lived off of for these many years. Consumer groups were whipped into a frenzy, somehow believing that competition would not bring them greater choice and lower prices. But the truth is that there is scant evidence in any state where franchise reform has been enacted that any of the doomsday scenarios have come to pass.
So here’s to the Wisconsin legislature for having the courage to move the state forward and give a real gift to the citizens of the state. Other states, such as Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, should follow as the 2008 legislative sessions unfold in giving the gift of choice back to their citizens.