Senate Cable Bill Includes Fine for Providers Who Discriminate

By Kristi E. Swartz, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.

Apr. 27–AT&T Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. don’t want to be told they have to sell cable TV and broadband Internet to every area of a city or town.

But if they or any other new video-service provider is purposely avoiding a certain neighborhood because of the residents’ race or income, the Florida Attorney General’s Office can fine them up to $15,000 a month for each violation until they do, according to a provision in a hot-button cable-services bill debated Thursday in the Florida Senate.

AT&T-Florida spokesman Don Sadler said the company (NYSE: T, $38.96) is willing to comply.

The bill (SB998/HB549) makes it easier for providers to get into the market by allowing them to get one statewide license instead of having to negotiate individual ones with each city or town they wish to serve. The proposal has been heavily pushed by AT&T and Verizon, who want to sell customers a bundled package of cable, high-speed Internet and telephone services and up the ante against the fierce competition of the cable companies such as Comcast Corp.

This is the bill’s second year before the Florida legislature, having died last year chiefly because of an issue known as “buildout” — or where new entrants to the cable market must place their lines.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, had pushed for new video providers to sell cable to at least 25 percent of low-income neighborhoods within three years of entering the market, but Thursday, he settled for having the weight of the attorney general’s office behind making sure the companies don’t leave anyone out.

“If they cherry-pick, if they discriminate, they are going to be fined,” Fasano said.

Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, contended that if a new cable company came to town but wasn’t reaching at least 20 percent of a city within three years, the town itself should be able to step in and offer cable there instead. Her attempt to add that proposal to the bill failed.

Lobbyists expect a lively debate when it comes time for the Senate to vote on the bill today. A similar measure passed the House earlier this session.

The proposal is the result of long negotiations between the phone and cable industries as well as local governments, who have been concerned about losing the money they usually receive through franchise agreements as well as the public, education and government channels that cable companies typically provide.

Bill sponsor Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, said that wouldn’t happen.

“This gives the cities the same level of revenue, the same level of (public) channels,” Bennett said.

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