Marshfield passes resolution in support of the CAP Act
The City of Marshfield, Wood and Marathon Counties have urged Congressman Sean Duffy to sponsor the Community Access Preservation Act ("the CAP Act") through a Resolution passed on December 13. Resolution No. 2011-46 noted that "PEG channels are a unique and valuable resource for local information and discourse for the residents of the City of Marshfield, Wood, and Marathon Counties" and that "the CAP Act provides important solutions for critical and immediate threats to PEG channels and facilities across the country."
The federal bill is a response to state franchise laws passed by many states beginning in 2005.
These bills were crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and heavily supported by AT&T and the cable industry and were designed to get rid of local franchises that required local services such as community television stations. The Wisconsin law passed in December of 2007 and has caused financial hardship for well over 30 community television stations in Wisconsin and has two teetering on the brink of closure. The law decreased revenue by forbidding cities from collecting fees from subscribers to support community television and increased expenses by allowing cable operators to pass along the expense of origination lines and equipment needed by community television stations to distribute programming. The law provided no technical quality standards for community channels and this has encouraged Charter Communications to move these channels to hard-to-find areas of the line-up that are prone to reception problems and black-outs.
The CAP Act would allow cities to once again exercise their rights under federal law to collect a dedicated fee from cable subscribers for community television. Under this bill, the use of the fee would be expanded to include operating expenses as well as capital expenses. The CAP Act would also require cable operators to pick up the cost of distribution facilities for local programming. The law would require community channels to be available to all subscribers without any additional equipment and without "material degradation."
The CAP Act's chief sponsors are Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) and Representative Steve LaTourette (R-OH). The Marshfield resolution also urged our U.S. Senators Johnson and Kohl to support the measure, when a senate companion bill is introduced.
