James Gattuso writes: "After simmering on the back burner for months, the debate over video franchise reform came to a rapid boil over the past two weeks, with developments seeming to bubble up on every front. Last Friday, the FCC held a meeting in Keller, Texas — not so coincidentally the site of Verizon’s FIOS TV launch last fall. At the meeting, the Commission officially adopted its annual report on video competition. On the following Monday, comments were filed in the FCC’s proceeding on whether local franchise authorities are unreasonably limiting competition by in delaying application by (former) telephone companies. Then came Tuesday’s hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee, where — you guesed it — video competiton was the issues of the day. Add to that the nearly ubiquitious advertising campaign launched by Verizon and AT&T for cable choice, and the issue was nearly impossible to avoid. ..." Link: Technology Liberation Front.
Also see his Video competition, pt. 2: A Little Something for the Cities (link: Technology Liberation Front) and Video Competition, pt. 3: IPTV Something Familiar to Americans (link: Technology Liberation Front). --Dennis
No matter which way you slice it, competition in the video franchise industry is much overdue and long awaited. I don't know what the best way to achieve this is, but I do know it is long overdue.
Posted by: BudgetMan | Thursday, 02 March 2006 at 10:37