roundtable: ALLIANCE FILES FCC VDT COMMENTS

roundtable: ALLIANCE FILES FCC VDT COMMENTS

ALLIANCE FILES FCC VDT COMMENTS

AllianceCM@aol.com
Thu, 23 Mar 1995 11:53:26 -0500 

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 11:53:26 -0500
From: AllianceCM@aol.com
Message-Id: <950323115044_58629941@aol.com>
To: ROUNDTABLE@cni.org
Subject: ALLIANCE FILES FCC VDT COMMENTS


March 21, 1995
CONTACT: Barry Forbes
(202) 393-2650


VIDEO DIALTONE IS AN END-RUN AROUND CIVIC 
RESPONSIBILITY SAYS PUBLIC INTEREST COALITION IN FCC 
FILING

Washington DC, March 21 -- The Alliance for Community Media and 
Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ today stated 
that telephone company provision of video services is nothing more 
than "a bald attempt to do an end run around the public interest 
requirements of Title VI of the Communications Act." The Alliance and 
the United Church of Christ, filing as the "PEG Access Coalition," 
joined a number of public interest groups, regional and long-distance 
telephone companies, cable operators, television networks, trade 
associations, policymakers and scholars who have participated in the 
Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) request for information 
and comments for the FCC's "Video Dialtone" docket.  In this latest 
round of the FCC's ongoing efforts to regulate new entry into the 
provision of video services, the PEG Access Coalition called for an 
entirely new telecommunications policy which (1) explicitly recognizes 
the need to include individuals and local community groups in new 
communications technologies and (2) treats all providers of wire-based 
video services equally.

     "The term "video dialtone" (VDT) was created by the FCC as a 
smokescreen to allow telephone companies to get into the cable 
television business -- without the same responsibilities to local 
communities.  Now that many jurisdictions have recognized the cable-
telephone cross-ownership ban to be constitutionally suspect, this 
fiction has been exposed.  VDT is just cable television by another name.  
Radically different regulatory structures should not be based on nothing 
more than an arbitrary variant in terminology," said Barry Forbes, 
Executive Director of the Alliance.  

     "This artificial separation between Title II common carrier 
companies and Title VI cable companies forces the Commission -- and 
those companies regulated by the Commission -- to make specious 
choices between different types of rules," said Forbes.  "The Commission 
has categorized VDT as common carrier service in order to allow non-
discriminatory access for third-party programmers.  However, leased 
access is already available on cable television and a minor change of 
the law could provide for wider opportunities for third-party 
programmers under Title VI.  Creating a new regime when current 
regulations offer similar opportunities relieves Bell operating 
companies of the responsibilities to local communities that cable 
companies now have."

     "The current cable television regulations allow for public, 
educational and government access," Forbes stated.  "Cable companies 
use public rights-of-way -- streets, roads, parks -- to lay video cable.  
They generally pay for that use of these property rights by supporting 
PEG access to the communities they serve.  We believe that VDT 
providers should be governed by exactly the same requirements -- and 
the law is unequivocal about that," Forbes stated.  "In suggesting a new 
telecommunications regime to Congress, the FCC must consider the needs 
of the hundreds of thousands of churches, charities, YMCAs, 
elementary schools, libraries, Little Leagues that use public, 
educational and governmental ("PEG") access cable channels.  If they 
don't, they might inadvertently create rules that would put these 
channels out of business entirely.  I am concerned that there is not an 
awareness among the Commission about how many local communities 
have become dependent on PEG access.  What the FCC is contemplating 
is the equivalent of giving away public land for strip-mining -- without 
creating a single public park for all to use."

     Anthony Pharr, Director of Communication for the United Church of 
Christ, expressed similar concerns.  "It is essential that PEG access 
flourish, rather than perish, at the dawn of the era of the "information 
superhighway." Religious communities rely heavily on PEG access to 
get their message out to their congregations and families."

     In 1991, the FCC decided that phone companies that provide video 
services are not required to obtain franchises from their local 
communities, as is required of cable operators under the 1984 Cable Act.  
The FCC reasoned that phone companies were not allowed to offer 
their own programming, according to the terms of the telco-cable cross-
ownership restrictions.  The District of Columbia Circuit Court of 
Appeals upheld the FCC's rulemaking in August of last year.  

     Multiple federal courts have now declared cable-telephone 
company cross-ownership rules to be unconstitutional, but since that 
time have not determined whether phone companies entering the video 
programming industry should be regulated as phone companies or cable 
companies.  

     "To us, the choice is clear," said Forbes.  "The law and previous FCC 
rulemakings state that anyone offering direct video programming 
services is a cable operator.  It's cut and dried.  Putting VDT under cable 
regulation means that cities get compensated for use of the public 
property that they manage, citizens can continue to participate in 
democratic discourse, and viewers get a greater diversity of information 
and opinion.  Putting VDT under telephone company regulation will 
diminish local determinism, will offer a select group of companies 
special privileges over their competitors, and will further restrict 
citizens' and nonprofits' ability to participate in the information 
superhighway.  The potential of a democratic electronic forum will 
degenerate into the reality of a high-rent strip-mall."

     The PEG Access Coalition is hopeful that this new round of 
rulemaking will spur the FCC to impose franchise-like requirements on 
VDT services, because of the clear threat that the current legal regime 
poses to the future of PEG access and local control of public-rights-of-
way.

     "The FCC's rule exempting VDT from franchise requirements, when 
combined with the decisions of the six federal district and three Circuit 
courts that decided that cable-telco cross ownership rules are 
unconstitutional, could potentially create a deadly mixture for the 
citizens and small community groups that depend on PEG access," stated 
Forbes.  "The economic pressures that large-scale VDT entry will put on 
cable could persuade cable operators that the community services 
provided by PEG are too expensive an amenity for a competitive 
marketplace.  Clearly, convergence in technology must be matched by 
convergence in the law."

     The Alliance for Community Media is a national, non-profit 
membership organization committed to assuring everyone's access to 
electronic media.  The Alliance accomplishes this by disseminating 
public information, advancing a positive legislative and regulatory 
environment, building coalitions, and supporting local organizing.  
Founded in 1976, the Alliance represents the interests of over 950 public, 
educational and governmental ("PEG") access organizations and local 
origination cable services throughout the country.  The Alliance also 
represents the interests of local religious, community, charitable and 
other organizations throughout the country who utilize PEG access 
channels and facilities to speak to their memberships and their larger 
communities.

    - 30 - 

_________________________________________________
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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