Tennessee State Franchising Bill Signed Into Law
AT&T, Other New Providers Can Deploy Services Within 10 Days After Application
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 5/22/2008 3:14:00 PM EDT
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has signed a state cable franchising bill into law, ending two years of competitive lobbying by the cable industry and AT&T Corp.
The law, signed this week by Bredesen, allows AT&T and other new providers to deploy broadband services in the state 10 days after they make a complete application to the office of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, which oversees utilities in the state. Incumbent operators can decide whether to opt in on July 1, or remain with their current local franchise. New providers must decide whether to apply for state authority within one year.
Local governments are not allowed to levy local fees or taxes on the state-authorized providers, but they do retain authority for overseeing customer service standards, and may seek mediation on behalf of consumers for perceived service breaches.Customers can also reach out to the TRA for assistance with service disputes.
New providers will be given 43 months to pass at least 30 % of their declared service areas. Of that, 25% must be low income households.
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than reading the actual legislation.
The reader is directed to the Amendment that makes the Bill:
tinyurl.com/6h7sxu
There are most certainly build-out provisions which apply to new
providers: Section 12 allows a period of 42 months after the date the
franchise is issued, after which at least 30% of households in the
franchise area must have access to the holder's to cable or video or
broadband internet service, 25% of those households with must be
low-income households.
Cable Operators insist that franchise Fees are simply Taxes, as you
know.
Franchise fees, up to 5% of Gross Revenue apply and are paid directly
to the cities, an optional PEG Support Fee of up to 1% of gross revenues
may also be required of the operators. The law allows the cities and
counties to impose taxes, fees or assessments on the operators, so
long as they are generally applicable to corporations in Tennessee.
