^{Democracy & Technology Blog} Video Extortio…er, Franchising

Great Wall Street Journal article (sub. req.) demonstrating the absurdity of making telecom companies go through the silly process of local video extortion, er, franchising that cable TV companies had to endure 25 years ago. Here’s the lede:

Last year Verizon Communications Inc. lawyers went to city hall in Tampa, Fla., for permission to offer television service over the phone company’s new high-speed network. City officials presented them with a $13 million wish list, including money for an emergency communications network, digital editing equipment and video cameras to film a math-tutoring program for kids.

Frustrated, Verizon officials suspended their talks and decided to try another tack. The company soon persuaded Temple Terrace, a small neighboring community, to roll out the new technology. It began running radio and newspaper advertisements in Tampa, arguing that if residents want more television choices, they should move to Temple Terrace.

All over the country, Verizon is squaring off against local governments, as it embarks on a high-stakes upgrade of much of its network. Aiming to offer Internet, phone and television services, Verizon plans to spend up to $20 billion to lay thousands of miles of fiber-optic wires across its East Coast service area from Maine to Florida and into parts of Texas, California and elsewhere.

This is all too familiar. When I was about six years old, my grandfather and father built the cable TV network in my small Indiana hometown, and I still remember about two years worth of dinner conversations consumed by talk of the “Cable Wars.”

-Bret Swanson