Net Neutrality in Concord

The passage of Cable Reform (AB 2987) legislation in California will create a statewide video franchise overseen by the PUC. AB 2987 essentially lets the State of California oversee the business of cable franchises around the State, instead of cable companies cutting deals with a couple hundred individual municipalities.

The City of Concord and the California League of Cities bitterly opposed AB 2987 because it means cities will have less control over services and fees. For example, during Council comments at the Naval Weapons Station Public Hearing at the Senior Center last month, Concord Councilmember Laura Hoffmeister, reading from the League of Cities playbook, did her level best to scare the bejusus out of the local citizenry. She raised the spectre that if AB 2987 passed, we poor citizens would not be able to complain to the City the next time Channel 2 goes fuzzy during a Raider game. That would teach us.

More realistically, municipalities like Concord and hundreds of other municipalities fret that real dollar operational costs will go up because when they lose leverage over cable companies they won’t be able to extract goodies from applicants like free IP for City Hall or City and Community Access Channels, or a parking lot. Now, with AB 2987, the deal gets cut in Sacramento and not at Parkside Drive, and we get to see if guys like Sen. Torlakson (who abstained) is truly earning his keep or just foolin’.

Meanwhile, Concord’s cable incumbents, Comcast and Astound/Wave/Whatever, opposed AB 2987 because it means more competition for them. On the other side, Big Labor, including the California Labor Federation and the AFL-CIO, plus Rainbow/PUSH, the Council on Aging, and over 250 other groups (see list at bottom of this URL) supported passage. So, at least in California, Cable Reform is really more about an estimated 10,000+ new union jobs than it is about more choices, better service in redlined areas, more competition, and maybe—just maybe, lower prices.

The AB 2987 debate was in fact a microcosm of the Net Neutrality debate that took place in Congress around the same time. Neither the Net Neutrality bill passed by Congress or AB 2987 is perfect. But let’s start somewhere. Yeah, real network neutrality should be enforced. Sure, it’s time for Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable to get their hands out of our pockets. And, over the rainbow in some improbable quantum universe, lower prices and better services do appear with competition. But for now— and I’m sure Councilmember Hoffmeister has a lot of juice and can make things happen in this town— I’m just really happy that the next time I have to take something back to Sears, I won’t have to call Laura first.