Anaheim Calls on FCC to Reduce Regulations and Increase Competition in Video Franchising

Business Wire, March 29, 2006

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Mayor Curt Pringle, on behalf of the City of Anaheim, filed comments today with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) encouraging federal reforms that increase competition in the cable and video service marketplace and encourage new delivery methods. The FCC is soliciting comments to help the commission implement changes to the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. E[acute accent]Anaheim has had a franchise agreement with various cable service providers since 1979. In order to increase competition and provide greater options to residents, the City recently reached an agreement with AT&T for the delivery of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) to Anaheim residents. Following are highlights from Mayor Pringle's comments. The full text of the comments will be available at www.anaheim.net. E[acute accent]Anaheim is supportive of maintaining open market competition in which any franchise fee is eliminated for consumers and a variety of service providers have an opportunity to earn customer support. E[acute accent]Anaheim city leaders believe that government should not determine whether residents receive video content through established cable providers, increasingly competitive satellite television, or new concepts like Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), or future technologies like Wi-Fi delivery of video content. E[acute accent]By eliminating franchise fees and impediments, Anaheim leaders believe there will be equitable competition amongst the variety of video service providers. In this way, and without local government interference, the various systems compete in price, quality and quantity, and consumers decide which service provider they prefer. E[acute accent]In the past, local governments have used money collected by the franchise fee to help pay for basic city services, such as public safety, traffic management, and street and sidewalk preservation. But, in fact, cities have created an unfair tax on cable companies and limited competition in a fast-paced, competitive marketplace. Furthermore, many cities have used these fees to fund essential municipal services unrelated to cable. E[acute accent]Some believe that private companies should be required to give free services for police and fire stations, schools, and libraries in exchange for doing business with and in their city. But Anaheim's leaders don't believe that free services like these justify allowing a single company to have a de facto monopoly on the market. E[acute accent]Pringle invited FCC commissioners to visit Anaheim and see a local community that is able to deliver top-quality video service without a franchise fee, giving its residents real choice in the marketplace.

E[acute accent]ABOUT ANAHEIM -- Founded in 1857, the City of Anaheim is one of the nation's premier municipalities and California's 10th most populous city. As the oldest city in Orange County, Anaheim covers 50 square miles, with more than 345,000 residents and 2,077 employees. The municipal corporation's annual budget is $1.298 billion. The city boasts world-class organizations such as the Anaheim Angels, Boeing, CKE Restaurants, Inc., L-3 Communications, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Pacific Sunwear and The Walt Disney Company. Annually, Anaheim also welcomes millions of visitors to the city, truly making it where the world comes to live, work and play. For more information, please visit www.anaheim.net.