HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-141
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RESOLUTION NO. 90-141
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA
THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO REVISE THE
COMMUNICATIONS POLICY ACT OF 1984.
URGING
CABLE
WHEREAS, cable television has become the public square of
free speech of the 1980s and will only grow in the future as a
necessity in the lives of individual citizens; and
WHEREAS, the current status of the laws and regulations
governing cable do not promote competition or protect cable
subscribers from rate escalation of the type that could divide
society into those who can and those who cannot afford to avail
themselves of this public square; and
WHEREAS, this division will result from cable television
being an unregulated monopoly, which does not face competition
and which is preempted from a regulatory environment; and
WHEREAS, this preemptive regulatory environment has come
about as a result of the Congress, the Federal Communications
Commission and Courts altering what cities had thought to be the
terms and conditions of the Cable Act of 1984 in areas such as
franchising, renewals, rate regulation and technical standards;
and
WHEREAS,
the lack of competition has arisen from the
absence of alternative multichannel delivery systems, especially
of a switched fiber optic network that reaches most houses to
achieve a significant market share and from anticompetitive
behavior by monopolistic cable operators; and
WHEREAS, the judicial elimination of "must carry" rules has
interfered with the intent of the 1984 Act; and
DAB/ses/Policy.res
April 4, 1990
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WHEREAS, the current trends of horizontal consolidation,
which results from the merging of cable systems, and vertical
integration, which results from cable companies having an
ownership interest in the sources of programming, have further
inhibited competition; and
WHEREAS, as a result of this unregulated monopoly,
consumers and cities presently have no protection against the
monopolistic practices of the cable industry,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor and Common
Council of the City of San Bernardino call upon Congress and the
Administration to guarantee the right of all citizens to the
public square for free speech and other necessities provided by
cable television, and to address this issue by enacting laws
which encourage the introduction of competition into the cable
market and for cable franchises, especially at the time of
renewal; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that until and unless such
competition is achieved, Congress and the Administration must
return to local government regulatory authority over rates and
technical delivery.
Specifically, the Mayor and Common Council
of the City of San Bernardino call upon the Congress and
Administration to:
A. Return to local government the authority to regulate
basic cable rates in the absence of a switched fiber optic
network to a second multi-channel alternative which provides
viable competition throughout the franchise area.
B. Establish, or in the alternative, permit local
DAB/ses/Policy.res
April 4, 1990
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:
governments to establish,
worthy technical standards for the
delivery of cable service which are responsive to technological
advances.
The standards currently in place for Class I
transmissions are antiquated and must not be extended to Classes
II, III and IV transmissions.
C. Permit telephone companies to own and operate cable
systems so long as:
1) regulations are in place to prevent cross
subsidization between a company's cable and telephone
operations; and
2) all other requirements of a local franchise agreement,
including existing fees, franchising process and regulatory
mechanisms that govern city cable franchise relations, are
enforceable at law against a telephone company operating as
a cable provider.
D. Encourage telephone and cable companies to deploy
fiber optic cable to the house, so the maximum number of
Americans will benefit from the abundance of the Information Age
services and programming that could be provided over a switched
fiber network.
E. Mandate that as a term and condition of availing
themselves of the benefits of compulsory licensing, cable
operators carry local television signals on their basic cable
service tiers.
F. Prohibit video programmers affiliated with cable
systems from discriminating against non-affiliated cable systems
and alternative multichannel video programming distributors in
DAB/ses/Po1icy.res
April 11, 1990
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.:
.
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA
THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO REVISE THE
COMMUNICATIONS POLICY ACT OF 1984.
URGING
CABLE
the price, terms, conditions or availability of their
programming.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was duly
adopted by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San
Bernardino at a requ1ar
meeting thereof, held on the 16th
day of Aori1
, 1990, by the following vote, to wit:
Council Members:
AYES
NAYS
ABSTAIN
ESTRADA
x
REILLY
x
FLORES
x
MAUDSLEY
x
MINOR
x
POPE-LUDLAM
x
MILLER
~.4'@'.a-~-1b
Ci-Ey Clerk
The foregoing resolution is hereby approved this /l~(/ day
of
April
, 1990.
,
Approved as to
form and legal content:
JAMES F. PENMAN,
City Attorney
~tFJ
DAB/ses/policy.res
April 4, 1990
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