AgdaPkt 2006-03-27 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TELECOM ftom page 1.............................................. 9A Sly This debate Is being fueled by \he revolutiOn- Reports fTOtY' washington D.C. \his weel< we,fage 1 0 Ca:anges In leIecommun;catìons technology. thai CongreSSman Joe Barton. cha"",an of thO pr e companieS want 10 beCOme te1ePnon<> Energy and commerce ~. plans 10 mo-. d~VtdetS and telephOna companieS wanl \0 to me¡\( up this month oIlagisiation 11\91 would. ca \Ver video se~ and ft ¡s all possible be- focUS on letling \he former regional Bell operating use 01 the new technolOQY. comPanieS !8p\d1y enter the v\de<> mall<etPIaCO to """,!I"Ie heað-oo with the cable induslIY. The F The board action followed tYt one week a mall< up would OCCUr In \he Enel1!'l and Com- b ebruary 1 ()..11 bO8f(I meeting, dur\119 which the me"'" Telecommunica\iOOS end the Internet g oard of directors t¡eard presen\aliOns and en- SubCOmrn-' fr aged in an extensiVe Q&A with representatl"os Com the .net" ,0,1&1, VeriZ°n and the california able Television Association. The industry repre- s~n~es descnbed the services theY en.ision ih ovldtn9 to local communitieS and were more an WIlling to point out vIrrf \he se¡vieeS of their t~al1:lcular companY ..are superIOr 10 tha compel\- ton. "My pos\liOf\ is thai \he<e shOuld be a naüonai ¡video] franchi""; Barton said after addressing a Na\IOI1a' j>.SSOÓ8t1Oß of BroadcaSters' gathering, While (he phone companies na<' offering .ideO se",iCOS -~ such a na\\OnaI franchise. cable operato<" - who had had \0 _in ftanclliseS at the lOcal level- ergue the Bells shoUld be sub¡ect to similar rules in order to offer video services. laSt yea' the League joined with the National League of Cities (NLC) in opposing the Barton proPOSal. (Please '"sit 111. League'S special website Telecom page at ~.ca~ies omL ~ to viev./a C{!PY of this \etter.) League urges Cities to Write Legislators and Members of CongreSS While passage of legislation this year estab- liShing . neW ragulator¡ ~r1< tor teleCOfTl is far from certain. it does appear that there are serious diSCUssiOns moving in bOth congreSS and the Legislature. Earlier this weeK, the League Issued an action alert \0 cities. asking them \0 sign 0010 a League letter 10 tÞe califomla cOO9resslOnal delegatiO" that urges \lie de\e9atiO" to consider the League'S newly.adOpted telecomrnunica\ionS principleS 8S \!tEl'! move forNer<! with the reform 01 iederallelecommunica\iOnS laW- The _r along with a list of cities who have signed on wi\\ be delivered to the cali"""iS delegation during the National League of Cities congressiOnal City conference in March. The cable industry argued for maintaining the status quo of the current local franchising pro- cess. VerizOfl and AT&T are concemed that the traditional franchising process will be a barrier in getting their product/service to market in a timely manner. On the following da'1, the bOard considered and debated pa.rameters for a telecommunica- \~ons poliCY "\I":1('°uJd guide the League's posi- t,ons and react\Ot\s to telecöm reform disCUssions in Congress and \~e Legislature. The debate was comple)C. anó \n"o\yed, with the bOard ultimatelY deciding to use thé"~oll()w-UP conference call the following Week to f\~í3\ize their tel8Communica- t\ot\s 90\\~, . RefO~ tJ\~ing in1CongresS and \..eg\s\a~r~ l . . .!' ,he ~oP~ of.t~~ policy is timely, as regu\s: tori refo{t'1\ d ~SIOn¡ appear to be heating up In bo"\~ Co~gress.çJ thê.falifornia Legislature. In ca\\{orf\la, ¡:""s~.~IY s~aker Fabian Nunez and .. þ...ssero'o~ .\Jt\\\t~nd&þ......mmerce Chairman . "o'ld Levme {\A, fn . d d ~. ' ,,62981) t\iUVS "eve ontro uce e spot ""0".". ""rm..r C~.uld Ðe,.è.:'.',. the vehic\e for regula- L ~.. r61v ..,.\$" h..... . . :.,..."'5 ere In California. continued 00 Page ;N;~~ ~¡(~ M$~ 3. 2.00& ~Bl/eiUS \/lsit the League's Officia\ WebS\t~.www.cacitie!