TIA: Video franchising bill must pass

The Telecommunications Industry Association, whose membership consists of many network equipment manufacturers that cater to both telcos and cable TV companies, wants see national video franchising legislation be approved quickly by the U.S. Senate, or it may run the risk of slowing broadband deployment.

The Senate Commerce Committee passed Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) telecom reform act, which includes the video franchising legislation, late last month, and all indications are the full Senate will act sometime in September, possibly after Labor Day. However, that also brings the legislation’s culmination dangerously close to an election season whose distractions could hamper the bill’s prospects for passage.

“There are too many things to be gained by this bill for it not to be passed,” said Matt Flanigan, president of the TIA. “The benefits of this bill for building out and getting consumers on the broadband super-highway far out-weigh any of the challenges that are being attached to it.”

Net neutrality proponents tried to attach language to the bill in the Senate Commerce Committee that would bar telcos from offering tiered content services, but this effort failed despite heated debate and an 11-11 vote on the matter. “We were encouraged by how this bill passed through the House and came out of the Senate committee,” Flanigan said. “Net neutrality is the one issue that could cause it to slow down and it’s a phantom issue. It’s something that’s not a problem right now.”

Danielle Jafari, senior director and general counsel of government affairs at the TIA, said there are other ways to deal with net neutrality if it does become a problematic issue in the future. Anti-trust regulation, Federal Communications Commission governance and future separate net neutrality legislation are some of the options.

Flanigan said the TIA favors national video franchising legislation that treats telcos and cable TV companies on equal terms.