Wisconsin Senate Passes "Video Competition" Bill; Defeats Amendments To Make It More Consumer-Friendly

I just consumed another entire day watching the "Video Competition" bill progress towards becoming law in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Senate debated and defeated a long series of amendments that would make the bill more consumer-friendly, more responsive to rural needs, more supportive of local PEG channels, more limiting in its terms and conditions and less of a giveaway to the cable and phone companies, and more responsive to the future importance of broadband infrastructure to our economy.  Instead, the bill passed almost entirely as introduced in the Senate, and will need minimum adjusting to conform to the Assembly's version.  It's a triumph for Senator Jeff Plale (D- Milwaukee), the chief Senate sponsor, and newly elected Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston), who made passage his first priority.

Recognition for their efforts to amend and improve a bad bill must go to Senators Mark Miller (D-Monona), Kathleen Vinhout (D-Alma), and Judy Robson (D-Beloit), who worked hard to convince their colleagues that they were being sold a bill of goods. Almost all the Republicans voted as a bloc against their amendments, as did several Democrats.  It was a depressing process to witness, especially seeing many cable and phone company staffers and lobbyists watching their dollars at work.

Senate President Fred Risser (D-Madison) patiently and fairly presided over the session, and should be thanked for his many efforts to improve the bill in the last few months.

Senator Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) kept straying off the GOP reservation, as he is wont to do.  He kept pointing out the contradictions between what Sen. Plale was saying the bill would do, and the bill's actual language. At one point he said "Senator Decker is laughing all the way to I better not say where..." as Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) glared at him.

Special mention and a medal should go to Mary Cardona, head of the Wisconsin Association of PEG Channels, who pulled off a lobbying loaves and fishes act with meager resources and a real grass-roots coalition.  Most of the PEG-related improvements from the original bill and many of the other improvements resulted from her efforts, which included a great last-minute op-ed piece in the Capital Times:

AT&T wants a license to turn a quick buck and is about to get it.

Cable wants to extract greater profits from Wisconsin by getting rid of community investment and is about to get it.

Residents should be hopping mad.

- Barry Orton

Comments

[jim guilfoil]

As Gaylord Nelson used to say, "they stole it fair and square'. Corruption is so deep seated that to expect fairness for the public is no longer possible. Jensen is still at large...
If Governor vetoes this bill, then maybe, just maybe, a dim glimmer of fairness might emerge.

[Skip]

So, will cable access channels be losing their funding with the language of the bill the senate passed?

[Mark F.]

Any chance that Doyle will veto this? Any speculation on that?

[Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke]

The sweet name "Video Competition" is the only positive that can be gleened from this bill. It does nothing to live up to its name. Does anyone remember the last time Ma Bell believed in competition? I'm guessing they still don't. This bill sells our citizenry short, and is a disgrace. I applaud Senators Ellis, Robson, Vinhut, Miller, Carpenter and all the others who saw this bill for what it truly is, and isn't.

-Mayor Michael Neitzke, Greenfield

[Correct Thinking]

Finally, some real competition for the long time cable MONOPOLY, who continues to gouge and provide crap for service and programming, doing their usual disservice and misinformation to those who continue to shell out, wait two hours to get customer service, and get charged $80 to have some contracted monkey come out to your house, only to go back to the cable office not able to fix the problem. Cable IS the problem. Those we elected need to monitor AT&T to be sure they do what was agreed to, and the cable companies from trying to stick it to the few subscribers they'll have left if they don't wise up and be much more consumer friendly. As for local access, much of it is good, some of it needs to go, and with the full implementation of digital, the sky is the limit for what can be offered.

[Mary Cardona]

Cities that have negotiated a PEG (public, education, and government) fee on cable bills to support local channels will be able to collect that fee for three years -- from all providers. That is the one thing the Senate did pass for PEG last night unanimously. After three years, local channels are entirely dependent upon the municipal general fund and fundraising. The Senate decided not to allow local channels to raise any money through advertising. With no technical standards, AT&T can go ahead with their plan to "trickle" PEG stations on one channel of the line-up with a point and click icon system. Stations are being forced to pay for this less than broadcast quality carriage because there are equipment costs involved that AT&T refuses to pay for. Stations are not allowed to opt out. Thankfully, AT&T only serves about one-third of the state. I just worry cable will get bad ideas about how to carry local channels on less bandwidth.

[Mary Cardona]

And thanks for your kind words, Barry. You have been indispensible in this fight. Thank YOU for all you've done.