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Res 72-91 Failed FAILED - 9/24/91 RESOLUTION 72-'91 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA SUPPORTING INCREASED COMPETI- TION WITHIN THE CABLE TELEVISION INDUSTRY BY SUPPORTING MUNICIPAL RATE REGULATION; COMPETITION BY LOCAL TELEPHONE COMPANIES; AND BY SUPPORTING AN ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES BY THE YEAR 2015. WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida joins the National League of Cities,~ United States Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National Conference of Black Mayors, and other local governments which are seeking federal legislation that responds to local problems with cable television; and, WHEREAS, the City Commission finds that it is in the public interest to provide customer service standards, a meaningful franchise renewal process, additional competition provided by our local telephone companies, and for local governments to have the ability to regulate subscriber rates and service standards; and, WHEREAS, the City Commission finds it is in the public inter- est to establish a nationwide advanced communications system by the year 2015 available to all homes, businesses, educational institutions, health care organizations, and other users, in order to fundamentally improve the United States'international competitiveness in the Informa- tion Age with the deployment of an advanced communications infrastruc- ture to facilitate distribution and dissemination of information. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS; Section 1. That the City Commission of the City of Delra¥ Beach, Florida, does hereby lend it's support to federal legislation, House of Representatives Bill 1303, and Senate Bill 12, which would return to local government the right to regulate the "basic" tier of cable programming. Section 2. That the City Commission of the City of Delra¥ Beach, Florida, does hereby lend it's support for federal legislation, House of Representatives Bill 2456 and Senate Bill 1200, which mandates that the United States establish a nationwide advanced communications system by the year 2015 and allow local telephone companies to provide video programming. Section 3. That the City Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to provide copies of this Resolution to Senators and Represen- tatives from the State of Florida. PASSED AND ADOPTED in regular session on this day of ,1991 CITY OF DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA By M A Y O R ATTEST: City Clerk FAILED - 9/24/91 MEMORANDUM TO: MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSIONERS FROM: CITY MANAGER~P~ SUBJECT: AGENDA ITEM ~ ~ ~ - MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 24, 1991 RESOLUTION NO. 72-91 DATE: September 20, 1991 This is a resolution supporting increased competition within the cable television industry by supporting municipal rate regulation; competition by local telephone companies; and by supporting an advanced communication system throughout the United States by the year 2015. The City Attorney's office has received information that there is presently before Congress several bills which would impact the regulation of Cable Television. These bills propose to return to local government the right to regulate the cost of "basic" tier cable television services; and, provide more stringent franchise renewal requirements. Further, the proposed bills provide for competition by allowing local telephone companies to enter the field. Recommend consideration of Resolution No. 72-91. RESOLUTION 72-91 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA SUPPORTING INCREASED COMPETI- TION WITHIN THE CABLE TELEVISION INDUSTRY BY SUPPORTING MUNICIPAL RATE REGULATION; COMPETITION BY LOCAL TELEPHONE COMPANIES; AND BY SUPPORTING AN ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES BY THE YEAR 2015. WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach,i Florida joins the National League of Cities, United States Conference Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National Conference Black Mayors, and other local governments which are seeking federa~ legislation that responds to local problems with cable television; and, WHEREAS, the City Commission finds that it is in the public interest to provide customer service standards, a meaningful franchise renewal process, additional competition provided by our local telephone companies, and for local governments to have the ability to regulate subscriber rates and service standards; and, WHEREAS, the City Commission finds it is in the public inter- est to establish a nationwide advanced communications system by the yea~ 2015 available to all homes, businesses, educational institutions~ health care organizations, and other users, in order to fundamentall~ improve the United States'international competitiveness in the InformaJ tion Age with the deployment of an advanced communications infrastrucj ture to facilitate distribution and dissemination of information. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS; Section 1. That the City Commission of the City of Delra~ Beach, Florida, does hereby lend it's support to federal legislation, House of Representatives Bill 1303, and Senate Bill 12, which woul¢ return to local government the right to regulate the "basic" tier o! cable programming. Section 2. That the City Commission of the City of Delra' Beach, Florida, does hereby lend it's support for federal legislation' House of Representatives Bill 2456 and Senate Bill 1200, which mandate: that the United States establish a nationwide advanced communication~ system by the year 2015 and allow local telephone companies to provide video programming. Section 3. That the City Clerk ls hereby authorized an¢ directed to provide copies of this Resolution to Senators and RepresenL tatives from the State of Florida. PASSED AND ADOPTED in regular session on this da~ of ,1991 CITY OF DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA By MAYOR ATTEST: City Clerk [ITY OF DELRI:I¥ BEI:I[H MEMORANDUM DATE: September 13, 1991 TO: City Commission FROM: Susan Ruby, Assistant City Attorney SUBJECT: Resolution in Support of Federal Legislation--Cable Television Our office has received information that there is presently before the Congress of the United States several bills which would impact the regulation of Cable Television. These bills propose to return to local government the right to regulate the cost of "basic" tier cable television services; and, provide more stringent franchise renewal requirements. Further, the proposed bills provide for competition by allowing local telephone companies to enter the field with fiber optic capabilities which would permit the attainment of a proposed national policy of providing a nationwide advanced communication system. Our office is providing with this Resolution, a letter from Mayor Dave Karp from San Leandro, California, and an article which was published in the Sun Sentinel on Wednesday, September 11, 1991 which contained further information which may be helpful. At the direction of the City Commission and by copy of this memorandum to David Harden, City Manager, our office is requesting that this matter be placed on the next agenda for City Commission consideration. SAR/sar cc David Harden, City Manager cabres.txt August21, 1991 MAYO[:::{ [DAVE KARP City of San Leandro The Honorable Thomas Lynch Mayor of Delray Beach 100 N.W. First Ave. Delray Beach, FL 33444 Dear Mayor Lynch: Recently I wrote in the US Mayor and Nation's Cities Weekly of the need for local government officials to take a leadership role in calling on Congress to help us protect customers from over-priced and lackluster service cable television. I promised to provide a packet of materials to assist you in educating our constituents on the legislation now before Congress. Enclosed are those materials. I suggest you do the following: · Pass a resolution calling on Congess to return regulation of CATV to local government and repeal the cross-ownership bans prohibiting your .local telephone company from competing in cable. · Hold'a--news conference or issue a news release to your local media on the passage of such a resolution. · Contact your Congressman about your need for local regulation of CATV and the need for competition while he/she is back in the "home" district during the August recess. · Write your Congressman and enclose a copy of your resolution. I plan to actively pursue this issue in the fall. I would appreciate you notifying me of your action or any problems you have had with CATV by September 21 so I may share that information with Congress and the Federa! Communication Commission staff after the August recess. Thanks for your assistance. Together we can get Congress' attention on the urgent need for meaningful cable legislation this year. Sincerely, Mayor Attachments DK:spj CIVIC CENTER · 835 EAST 14TH STREET. SAN LEANDRO CALIFORNIA 94577 Special to US MAYOR and Nation's Cities Weekly "Call to Action On CATV" by Mayor Dave Karp San Leandro, CA Efforts by cities and counties to inform Congress of our continued concerns over Cable TV service and rates have been heard, and legislation to return cable regulation to local government and introduce cable competition from telephone companies is again on the national policy a, genda. I am, therefore, again seeking your support both to regulate cable and introduce competitive alternatives to cable such as local telephone companies. We as local government officials, seeking legislative protection for consumers, fueled the almost successful effort in Congress for cable legislation last year. A bill to regulate cable was passed by the House, but killed by the cable industry at the 11th hour in the Senate. This past March, local government officials' efforts, coupled with vigorous staff work of the National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors, resulted in the introduction of bills in the House and Senate. The Senate even reported its bill to the floor. Since mid-March, however, no further action has taken place. Presently, there are four leading legislative proposals on cable; two bills that would regulate and two that would introduce cable competition. HR 2456 and S 1200, introduced by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Michael Oxley (R- Ohio) with Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Albert Gore, Jr. (D-Tenn.) would establish a national mandate to install an advanced telecommunications system nationwide by 2015 and introduce telephone cable competition. S 12 and HR 1303, introduced by Sens. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.) and Daniel J. Inouye (D- Hi.) and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), respectively, would return to local government the right to regulate the "basic" tier of cable programming. -more- "Call To Action On Cable TV" The Conference of Mayors and League of Cities policies support the goals of each of the four bills. To fully meet the mandates of our policies, elements of both regulation and competition must be enacted. Like many local government officials, I had hoped that the Federal Communications Commission would protect consumers by returning the right to regulate to local government. But as in the past, when defining "effective competition," the FCC effectively prohibited regulation for the majority of cable companies. If consumers are to be protected, legislation is required soon! Consumers' need for safeguards was once again demonstrated by a recent GAO report commissioned by Rep. Edward Markey of Massachussetts, who chairs the House Subcommittee overseeing cable. For the third year in a row, the GAO reported cable rates were outpacing inflation. This most recent study documented that the most popular cable service had increased 15% over a 15-month period ending April, 1991, or twice the rate of inflation. To achieve the policy goals of both the Conference of Mayors and the League of Cities, we, as local government officials, must again communicate our positions to Congress. I was encouraged by the participation of over 900 local officials in our March letter outlining the need for cable legislation. We must now undertake new efforts to enact resolutions and engage the local media in our efforts. We must also notify Congress of our needs. I will be sending to the mayors' offices across the country, a Cable Legislation Action Packet that includes a suggested letter to Congress, sample resolutions, and a news release outlining the need for regulation and competition. With Congress returning home for the August recess, now is the time for us to communicate the need for legislation to protect cable consumers. We must inform Congress just how important cable is to us and our constituents. The time is right for local officials to communicate with Congress and renew the sense of urgency for meaningful cable legislation this year. Mayor's sample"Op-Ed"on CATV "TELEPHONE COMPANIES SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO OFFER CATV" In 1984 when Congress passed the Cable Communications Policy Act, it did so based on the assumption that the local cable industry would be subject to competition. The intent was to create a competitive marketplace whereby the consumer would be able to choose his or her service from several potential cable-TV providers. This did not happen--in fact it has been quite the opposite. In reality, the Cable Act has protected the cable industry from competition. Because of the law, there are inadequate "checks and balances,'. regulatory or otherwise, on the cable industry with regard to service rates, service reliability or the quality of cable programming. Add explosive growth and vertical integration to the lack of competition, and it is easy to see how the cable indu.s.t..ry has been able to develop into an unregulated monopoly. Cable companies today control both cable programming and delivery. And, as the only supplier of cable television, the local cable company can charge what it wants for the service, carry only the programming it wants, and provide cable only to those areas it chooses to serve. As a result, consumers have been forced to pay increasingly higher rates for what is often times unreliable, poor quality service with limited programming options. -more- -2- Now, with the advent of fiber optic technology, the local telephone industry wants the opportunity to offer its customers cable television. The time has come to eliminate the restrictions in the Cable Act that are keeping competitors out of the the cable marketplace. If phone companies want in, they should be allowed to compete. A local telephone company offering cable television would create the type of competitive environment Congress had intended for cable. Competition would also lead to higher quality and more widely available service--being delivered at competitive prices. Should that option not be achievable in the short-term, Congress must at least pass legislation returning CATV to local government oversight. And that would benefit everyone. BUSINESS Sun-Sentinel, Wednesday, September 11, 1991 Section JACK NEASE Staff Columnist Citizens should get involved -This issue is really too important to be set- tied in smoke-filled rooms in Washington. Citi- zens and local officials should get involved. I've got a couple of biases on the subject that a lot of people may share. I think monopolies are inherently inefficient, greedy, opportunistic and bad for consumers. I think competition is inherently better than regulation. And I can't see any reason why competition wouldn't help cable customers. co--pet-t-ohm ii Surely, the revenues generated in congested More ~a~ are sufficient to pay for dual wiring of communities. In fact, cable companies have is better forcable ' raisedcompetition.ratesso high that they seem to be invit- Further, I can't see any reason to keep the H ow would you like to own a mo- Baby Bells from competing in the business, as nopoly business with unregulated long as they don't use phone revenue for the prices? purpose. How would you like to own a In fact, the ideal situation would be for the monopoly business that provides phone companies to act as carriers for compet- a service much in demand? lng cable transmission companies. Fiber optics And how would you like to own a monopoly makes that sort of thing possible. business that governments either lacked the Hollywood has taken a good, first step to- nerve or authority to regulate? ward cable competition. Now it is up to other You would have, in effect, a license to print communities and Congress to follo~ e that lead. money. You would be the owner of a cable te- levision system .... About three out of every four residents in Broward and southern Palm Beach counties are victims of this system. With its high-rise condominiums and anten- unless townhouses, South Florida is much more dependent on cable television than most of the nation, where an average of three homes in five has cable. This is why it is good news that Hollywood city officials are considering opening that city up to cable competition. A committee has rec-, ommended that Hollywood grant a franchise for a second cable company. It would be even better news if more South Florida cities would follow the example. About a dozen companies control all cable systems in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Cable prices increase willy-nilly, in ways that would never happen in a competitive envi- ronment. "Take-it-or-leave-it" is the attitude. Regulation talk surfaces again There was a time, of course, when cable prices were regulated. That was before 1984, when Congress passed laws eliminating any meaningful regulation by local government. Greedy, sometimes corrupt, local officials in many parts of the country had given cable re- gulation a bad name. But consumer prices were lower then. ": For more than two years, there have been reports out of Washington that Congress was ~'~ on the verge of re-regulating cable. But there's been more smoke than fire. Jockeying by lobbyists seems to be what is stopping action. Cable lobbyists are opposed to regulation. Network television wants cable to pay retransmission fees. And -- here's the wild card -- the Baby Bells want authority to operate cable. The Baby Bells, the regional phone compan- ies that were spun off in the breakup of AT&T, · are prohibited from entering the business with- out permission from Congress. Southern Bell is South Florida's regional. U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, a Massachu- setts Democrat who heads a House subcommit- tee that oversees telecommunications, is trying to work a deal. He seems to favor regulation, but is willing to use the threat of the Baby Bells to get his way.