Legislative Correspondence SF 54 Cable FranchiseCity Manager's Office
City Hall
50 West 13~" Street
Dubuque, IA 52001-4864
(563) 5891I110 phone
(563) 589-4149 fax
(563) 690-6678 TDD
ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org
cCompleteOFFICIALName Address»
Dear «Tile» « Last»:
THE CITY OF ,,..-
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March 16, 2007
As you may recall from our letters of February 19 and February 23 ,the City of Dubuque
is very concerned about recently introduced legislation that threatens the ability of local
municipalities to negotiate a cable television franchise agreement that best meets the
needs of their communities. The purpose of this letter is to reiterate our concerns with
Senate File 554 (formerly SF 368 and SSB 1208), also known as the Qwest / ITA
proposal for statewide cable television franchising.
First, this bill eliminates a municipality's ability to negotiate for provisions important to its
citizenry in favor of a "one size fits all" philosophy that is contradictory to the purpose of
franchising. A franchise provision vital to one community, such as an institutional
network - or I-Net -may be of little concern to another that places a much higher value
on its public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access community.
Second, in its current form, SF 554 threatens to render existing franchises null and void.
The Dubuque community is not yet two years into a 15-year cable television franchise.
We invested significant time and resources to negotiate this franchise with the
understanding it would be in place for 15 years. SF 554 not only severely limits a
municipality's ability to negotiate with a new provider, it allows an incumbent provider to
renegotiate its existing franchise if it feels it is unfair, or request a franchise similar to the
new provider's. If the purpose of SF 554 is truly to foster competition by making it
easier to obtain franchises, why not require a new provider to abide by the terms of the
community's existing franchise? This accomplishes the goal of promoting competition
by making it easier to obtain a cable television franchise while at the same time
preserving the uniqueness of the existing franchise that was negotiated with the
community's best interests in mind.
If the SF 554 were modified to preserve the existing franchises currently in place in
many communities, it would alleviate many of the additional concerns that we have with
this bill:
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation
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It eliminates a municipality's ability to negotiate a franchise in the best interests of
its constituents. Competitive video providers are not even required to first
negotiate with the city in which they want to operate. The bill also requires that a
franchise be issued within 15 days after application. Why would a provider
bother to negotiate when they can simply "wait it out" and automatically receive a
franchise?
• It contains no build-out provisions. Low- and moderate-income neighborhoods
and small businesses will not be served. Our current franchise requires services
be provided to every residence within the city limits, with reasonable provisions
for new annexations.
It does not address any kind of support for I-Nets. In Dubuque, the construction
of a community-wide I-Net connecting more than 75 government, educational,
healthcare, and non-profit sites was a major focus of our franchise negotiations.
Construction of our I-Net was completed late last year and we began lighting the
fiber in this network earlier this year. Dubuque's I-Net promises significant
savings, network redundancy, emergency communications, and traffic
signalization for our public and parochial schools, our medical community, City
and County buildings, and many of our cultural institutions. Our I-Net community
is jumping at the chance to fully realize the potential of this new resource. SF
554 threatens the future of this venture by failing to support it.
It drastically narrows the definition of gross revenues which are the source of the
franchise fees we collect from video providers. Last year, the City of Dubuque
received more than $570,000 in cable television franchise fees as compensation
for commercial use of the public rights-of--way and administration of the franchise.
Reduction of this revenue source could require the City to curtail services, raise
taxes, or both.
The City of Dubuque welcomes competition and competitive prices in our
telecommunications market. However, the cable-related needs of each Iowa
community are not the same and a "one-size-fits-all" solution will not work for everyone.
urge you to oppose SF 554 in its current form and any legislation that prevents a
community from acquiring a cable television franchise that best meets the needs of its
citizens. I believe there is a way to craft a bill that brings competition and its promise of
relief from skyrocketing cable bills without negatively affecting local communities.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this matter. The City of Dubuque stands by
to offer any assistance you may need in crafting a bill that benefits both business and
local communities.
Sincerely,
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork
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Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
City of Dubuque
MCVM:jh
cc: Mayor Roy Buol
Dubuque City Council
Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
Craig Nowack, Cable Franchise Administrator
John Burgart, Dubuque Community School District Superintendent
Molly Grover, Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO
Rick Dickinson, Greater Dubuque Development Corp Executive Director & COO
Brendan Houlihan, Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce Director of
Government Affairs
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork
The Honorable Pat Murphy
Speaker of the House
Iowa State Representative
155 N. Grandview Avenue
Dubuque, IA 52001
The Honorable Tom Hancock
Iowa State Senator
310 E Main Street
Epworth, IA, 52045
The Honorable Pam Jochum
Iowa State Representative
2368 Jackson
Dubuque, IA 52001
The Honorable Steven Lukan
Iowa State Representative
7365 Columbus Street
New Vienna IA 52065
The Honorable Mike Connolly
Iowa State Senator
2600 Renaissance Dr #3
Dubuque, IA 52001
The Honorable Roger Stewart
Iowa State Senator
3936 317 Avenue
Preston, IA 52069
The Honorable Thomas Schueller
Iowa State Representative
503 W. Platt Street
Maquoketa, IA 52060
The Honorable Ray Zirkelbach
Iowa State Representative
637 W. First Street
Monticello, IA 52310