roundtable: Alliance Senate Draft "Fixes"
roundtable: Alliance Senate Draft "Fixes"
Alliance Senate Draft "Fixes"
AllianceCM@aol.com
Wed, 8 Mar 1995 09:10:37 -0500
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 09:10:37 -0500
From: AllianceCM@aol.com
Message-Id: <950308091031_42986808@aol.com>
To: alliance-nw@isu.edu, roundtable@cni.org, media-forum@actwin.com
Subject: Alliance Senate Draft "Fixes"
Last week, the Alliance for Community Media met with John Windhausen,
staff member for Senator Hollings (D-SC), to try to "fix" the Democratic
draft of the telecommunications reform draft. Mr. Windhausen readily
agreed to "fix" a potential loophole for cable operators who offer
telephone services. He was more hesitant about including a provision
for Bell companies with video dialtone to pay "franchise-like" fee to
local governments in exchange for the use of local public rights of way,
which was included in draft offered by Senator Pressler (R-SD).
PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDED CHANGES IN YOUR CORRESPONDENCE
WITH YOUR SENATORS!
Negotiations are expected to conclude within the next few weeks... So your
immediate attention is critical... Thanks!
__________________________________________________
ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY MEDIA
RECOMMENDED CHANGES TO
TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM PROPOSALS
REPUBLICAN (PRESSLER) DRAFT
At page 43, line 1, replace proposed subsection 613(b)(2)(C) with the
following:
"(C) Any provider of video programming not required to obtain a
franchise from a franchise authority may be required to pay fees in lieu
of the fees required under Section 622, as determined by State law. Such
fees shall be competitively neutral and identifiable in consumer billing.
A State may require providers of video programming to provide access to
public, educational and governmental entities in accordance with Section
611 of this Act, and to provide equipment, services and facilities for
such access as may be provided under this section. The Commission shall
prescribe regulations under this subsection to ensure that a video
programming affiliate of a common carrier, or a video platform provider,
shall provide capacity, services, facilities and equipment for public,
educational, and governmental use. In prescribing such regulations, the
Commission shall, to the extent possible, impose obligations that are no
greater or lesser than the obligations contained in the provisions of
Section 611."
DEMOCRATIC (HOLLINGS) DRAFT
At page 15, line 5, replace proposed subsection 201A(j)(1) and
(2) with the following:
"(j) - Community Users. --
(1) All telecommunications carriers, shall, upon bona fide request,
provide universal service at rates not higher than the incremental cost
to any public or non-profit telecommunications user, including any --
(A) elementary and secondary schools as defined in section 1471 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 USC 1141) and
institutions of higher education as defined in section 1201 of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2891);
(B) library;
(C) health care facility;
(D) local public broadcast station or public, educational and
governmental access center (as defined in Section 602(15));
[OR]
(E) nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that are formed for the express purpose of
providing nondiscriminatory broadcasting and interactive access facilities
to noncommercial educational, informational, cultural, civic or charitable
services; and
(F) any member of such other classes of community telecommunications
users as the Commission may identify, based on the public interest, that
contribute in a significant way to public safety, education, knowledge,
information, and/or civic life.
(2) Video programming services shall be included in universal service
for the purposes of this subsection. The Commission and the States may,
in the public interest, additionally define universal service specifically
for those community telecommunications users to which this section applies."
P. 71, line 23 -- Section 208(a), amending Sec. 613(b)(1)(D) is amended to
read:
"(D)(i) Notwithstanding paragraph (B)(i)(I), a provider of video
platform services shall provide local broadcast stations with access to
the video platform at rates no higher than the incremental-cost-based
rates of providing such access. Local broadcast stations shall be
entitled to obtain access on the first tier of programming on the video
platform.
(ii) Any provision that applies to a cable operator under Section
611 shall apply in accordance with the regulations prescribed under
subsection (iii) to any provider of video platform services established
in accordance with this section.
(iii) Implementation of Requirements --
(a) Regulations -- The Commission shall prescribe regulations
to ensure that a provider of video platform services shall provide
capacity, services, facilities and equipment for public, educational
and governmental use. In prescribing regulations, the Commission shall,
to the extent possible, impose obligations that are no greater or lesser
than the obligations described in Section 611 of this Act.
(b) Any provider of video platform services, any video
programming affiliate of any common carrier, and any multichannel video
programming distributer offering a competing service using such video
platform (as determined in accordance with the regulations of the
Commission) shall be subject to fees imposed by a local franchising
authority, in lieu of the fees required under section 622. The rate at
which such fees are imposed shall not exceed the rate at which franchise
fees are imposed on any cable operator transmitting video programming in
the same service area. Such fee shall be nondiscriminatory between
competing providers of such services and shall be in addition to any
tax, fee or other assessment of general applicability, in a manner
consistent with Section 622 of this Act.
Page 77, line 7 -- proposed Section 621(b)(3)(A) is amended to read:
"(3)(A) To the extent that a cable operator or affiliate thereof
is engaged in the provision of telecommunications services --
"(i) such cable operator or affiliate shall not be required
to obtain a franchise for such telecommunications services under this
title; and
"(ii) the provisions of this title shall not apply to such
cable operator or affiliate regarding the provision of such services."
___________________________________________________
Alliance for Community Media
1990 Convention and Trade Show
Keynote Address Excerpt:
Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA)
"...you are literally at the cutting edge of history, that you are
creating the opportunity, you are the pioneers as surely as the Wright
Brothers or Edison, you are creating the opportunities, not just in
politics, but across the entire spectrum of the human experience, for
people to communicate, to collaborate and talk with themselves, to have
a level of business, maybe not quite as sophisticated as Monday Night
Football, maybe not quite as extraordinary as the best Olympic coverage,
but in level of humanness that is not attainable by a purely commercial,
centrally-controlled system, and a level of openness that is not
obtainable by a bureaucratically dominated public system.
"In that sense, we are in this together, because it's going to take all
of our creativity to make the 21st century work. We live in a planet
which needs more creativity, more interaction, more opportunity for this
kind of dialogue. In that sense, I think you are at the cutting edge."
(For a complete transcipt of Rep. Gingrich's remarks, contact the
Alliance for Community Media at (202) 393-2650 or AllianceCM @ aol.com.)
_________________________________________________
National Office
Alliance for Community Media
666 11th Street, NW, Suite 806
Washington, DC 20001-4542
Voice: (202) 393-2650
Fax: (202) 393-2653
E-mail: AllianceCM @ aol.com
"Ensuring everyone's access to electronic media
since 1976."
Barry Forbes, Executive Director
"Do what's right. Do it right. Do it right now."
_________________________________________________
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