The cable franchise bill, which is aimed at creating competition among cable service providers, passed in the Joint Finance Committee Wednesday and moved one step closer to becoming law as it heads to the state Senate.
The JFC passed the bill with a vote of 13-to-3. The bill has been heavily lobbied for by AT&T, which does not provide cable service to large parts of Wisconsin.
Authors of the bill, state Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, and state Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Green Bay, addressed the JFC before the vote in a statement, which called attention to the numerous compromises and negotiations made to pass the bill through the Assembly.
According to Plale and Montgomery, the bill will keep intact the customer protections, like service guarantees, that already exist and will extend protection to satellite customers.
The bill will also maintain the amount of revenue generated by local governments through franchise contracts with cable companies, according to the statement.
Senate Majority Leader, Russ Decker, D-Weston, supports the bill and hopes only minor changes will be made when it reaches the Senate, according to his spokesperson, Carrie Lynch.
[Decker] is hopeful that we can have the call centers here in Wisconsin and that they will somehow resolve the problem with the Big Ten Network,"" Lynch said.
Other senators have voiced further concerns with the bill.
""I think the cable bill, as it's written, is going to reduce peoples' availability to community access television,"" said state Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, referring to local governmental and educational channels that might be affected by the bill.
UW-Madison Professor of Telecommunications Barry Orton said the bill concerns him for many reasons, the biggest problem being he sees no flaws with the current system.
""The current system works fine now - all that AT&T needs to get is a franchise like everyone else,"" Orton said.
The bill will remove consumer protection agencies at a local level, providing only a statewide department to serve all customers, Orton said.
Cable companies will be allowed to choose where they want to provide service, possibly leaving out low-income and rural areas, according to Orton.
The Assembly passed the cable competition bill in March, but moving the bill through the JFC and Senate was delayed due to budget negotiations. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill Nov. 8.
