Urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to oppose HB 2880 and SB 1247 that provide for state-issued cable video franchises.

WHEREAS, The Cable Act of 1984 (the “Act”) provides an important role for municipal governments to negotiate the terms under which a cable television company may provide cable television service to its residents; and

WHEREAS, Under federal law, cable franchise agreements are non-exclusive meaning that more than one cable provider may seek franchises from and provide cable service to a municipality at the same time; and

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia affirms that the local franchising process has benefited both communities and cable customers and has not been a barrier to entry for new providers; and

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia supports maintaining the current cable franchising process that requires cable providers to obtain a local cable franchise in order to offer cable service in a municipality using the municipality’s public right-of-way – a cable franchise allows for both competition and local input; and

WHEREAS, The local cable franchising process continues to be an effective way for municipalities to work with cable television providers to ensure that each community’s local cable-related needs and interests are addressed; and

WHEREAS, The elimination of the local cable franchising process would disable the municipality’s legal ability to ensure that competition is offered on equal terms to all residents; and

WHEREAS, Each municipality and its residents have a significant and specific interest in the terms and conditions attendant to the award of a cable television franchise to the cable provider(s) that serve their community; and

WHEREAS, Municipalities and their residents would suffer either a reduction in services or an increase in property taxes to offset the loss of any portion of the franchise fees on which local budgets depend; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Philadelphia City Council urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to oppose HB 2880 and SB 1247 that provide for state-issued cable video franchises.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution shall be certified and forwarded to the Members of the State Legislative delegation representing the citizens of the City of Philadelphia.

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