Image
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Alert: Time Warner Cable Bill in North Carolina Being Rammed Through Senate
By
on
I'm on the road this week, leaving me little time to post in depth, but wanted to make sure readers are aware of an action alert posted by Stop the Cap!:
Stop the Cap! has learned lobbyists for North Carolina’s cable and phone companies are growing concerned over increasing opposition to their custom-written duopoly protection bill that will ruin community broadband developments across the state and threaten ones already up and running. Now they’re in a mad dash to push S.87 (the Senate version of H.129) through the Senate Tuesday before you have a chance to call and express outrage over this corporate protectionism. Our sources tell us the bill has been yanked from the Senate Commerce Committee and is moving faster than North Carolina’s cable and DSL broadband to the Finance Committee, where bill sponsors hope for a quick voice vote and no public comment allowed.
This is incredibly disappointing given a recent finding that North Carolina has the worst broadband in the nation [pdf]. No surprise to see Time Warner Cable acting hastily to get this bill through before the public learns more about it. The bill is terrible for the citizens and businesses of North Carolina, but great for wanna-be monopolists like Time Warner Cable and CenturyLink. By ensuring communities cannot build better networks, they will be free to continue letting North Carolina slide into digital oblivion as they concentrate their investments in communities with actual competition. Click on the link above to Stop the Cap! for information on who to contact to stop this attack from Time Warner Cable on the right of local communities to decide what is best for themselves.
Geoterm
Related Stories
NextLight in Longmont, Colorado Expands Beyond City Borders
Longmont, Colorado’s community-owned NextLight broadband network has now crossed north of Colorado Highway 66, outside of city limits. Longmont officials say this latest expansion is being financed entirely by subscriber revenues and money set aside for capital projects, with no bonding or other supplementary funds involved.
Trojan Horse To Cripple Muni Broadband in New York Slipped Into State Assembly Budget Proposal
Language added to a New York State budget bill is threatening to undermine a municipal broadband grant program established by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office earlier this year. Buried near the bottom of the Assembly budget proposal is a Trojan horse legislative sources say is being pushed by lobbyists representing Charter Spectrum, the regional cable monopoly and 2nd largest cable company in the U.S. that was nearly kicked out of New York by state officials in 2018 for atrocious service.
Alabama Electric Cooperatives Power Ahead With $35 Million In New State Broadband Grants
Four different Alabama electric cooperatives receive nearly $35 million in grant funding to expand fiber access to more than 11,092 rural Alabama homes and businesses. Meanwhile, the big incumbents operating in the state, Charter and Mediacom rake in lion's share of the rest of the state's federal Capital Projects Fund.
Harmful New Bill Aims To Undermine Popular Kentucky Utility’s Broadband Success
A looming new bill by Republican Kentucky State Senator Gex Williams could undermine decades of broadband progress made in the state’s capital city by a popular locally-owned utility, Frankfort Plant Board (FPB). Home to 28,000 Kentuckians, locals and utility officials are incensed at the bill, which they believe will unnecessarily result in higher rates, fewer jobs, and less broadband competition overall. Williams is circulating a bill in the Kentucky state legislature that, if passed, would force FPB to sell its broadband division to a private-sector company and subject it to more stringent oversight requirements.
Knoxville Utility Board Completes First Phase Of Major Municipal Broadband Project
The Knoxville Utility Board (KUB) says it has completed the first phase of what will be the nation's largest municipal broadband deployment, bringing affordable fiber access to more than 50,000 premises in this city of 192,000 – many for the very first time. All told, the $702 million project aims to deliver affordable fiber to 210,000 households across KUB’s 688-square-mile service area, taking between seven and ten years to complete.
New Resource: Fact Sheet on Broadband Basics from Center for Digital Equity
The Center for Digital Equity has published a new fact sheet for digital navigators that explains commonly used words related to Internet access that are not so familiar to those outside of the tech industry.