The Honorable Terese Berceau
Madison Office
Room 208 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison 53708

Dear Representative Berceau,

            I am writing to urge you to oppose legislation that may be introduced in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would take away the ability of local communities to enter into contracts - known as franchises - with cable television and other telecommunications services providers.  For well over thirty years communities such as Madison have been able to provide their residents with local programming (Public, Educational, and Government access) that speaks to the issues and character of their communities because of the local nature of these franchises.

After over a decade of ignoring the television and video market, giant telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon have suddenly decided that they wish to compete with companies such as Charter (the cable provider for Madison).  While everyone is in favor of true competition, which after all would give us all more choices in telecommunications services and almost certainly result in lower rates for your constituents, the legislation favored by these “Telcos” would eliminate local franchising in favor of “one size fits all” franchising on a National or a State level.

There are a number of reasons why such legislation is a bad idea, but I am writing in particular regarding a feature of such legislation that would prohibit communities such as Madison from negotiating fiscal support for PEG Access television (such as Madison City Channel, the City’s local government television station). A large portion of the funding that makes Madison City Channel the valuable resource it is comes from a small fee that each of us as cable subscribers pays as part of our monthly bill.  The amount and purpose of this fee was negotiated locally between the City and the cable provider as a way of helping ensure that citizens of Madison would continue to have access to the deliberations of their local government.

Local negotiations – a local franchise – for local funding for local government programming.  This legislation would remove the ability of cities to negotiate this funding – just get rid of it – and then force communities such as Madison to either add these costs to our property tax bills or possibly silence these vital community voices altogether.

I urge you to reject such legislation should it be introduced in Wisconsin (just as it has been in Texas, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Michigan).  Please use your vote and your influence to help keep decisions on local programming controlled at the local level.  If you or your staff would like additional information on the negative features of this proposed legislation, I urge you to contact Brad Clark, City of Madison Cable Television Coordinator, at 261-9115.

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.

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