Villages see lost cable co. fees in FCC proposal

Richard Tedesco

Village officials in Nassau County are concerned that a move to change cable television regulations by the Federal Communications Commission could undermine municipal control to grant franchise rights and collect franchise fees – a move that could cost local governments thousands of dollars.

The villages’ concerns are fueled by an April 7 notice of inquiry from the FCC seeking comments from all interested parties on accelerating deployment of broadband cable service by expanding its reach and reducing costs by revising right-of-way policies.

Thomas Levin, an attorney with Meyer Suozzi English & Klein, is currently drafting a letter of response on behalf of the Nassau County Village Officials Association.

Cable television providers such as Cablevision and Verizon Fios typically negotiate right-of-way fees with municipalities to lay fiber optic lines to enable video signal transmission to their subscribers.

“The NCVOA has taken a very strong position against it, because we don’t want Cablevision or Fios or anybody else not paying fees for rights of way,” said Village of North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss of the prospective changes. “They want to use our rights of way. If they pay a fee for the right of way, we should be able to determine that on our own.”

Franchise fees, typically set at 5 percent, give a municipality a percentage of the revenues a cable provider receives in a particular market.

Natiss, who recently completed his term as head of the NCVOA, is still a member of its executive committee.

Levin, who is counsel to the North Shore Cable Commission, said he planned to draft the letter by early July. But he declined to reveal what his reply to the FCC would be.

“We’re going to draft a letter on behalf of those villages that want us to do that for them,” he said.

Levin said he is currently canvassing the 24 villages in Nassau County to determine which municipalities want to be represented by the letter.

The North Shore Cable Commission represents the villages in the Great Neck area and the Village of North Hills in negotiations with video providers such as Cablevision and Fios.

“I don’t know what they would do. But I would lose control over our rights of way,” Natiss said of the FCC. “It’s our property. It’s all village property.”

Village of Mineola Trustee Lawrence Werther raised the alarm at last week’s Mineola Village Board meeting.

“It’s the latest volley in an ongoing effort to usurp the authority of the local municipality,” Werther said.

Werther said the notice of inquiry also could lead to a serious drop in income from the current $30,000 the village takes in from cable franchise fees.

“That would blow a $30,000 hole in our budget,” Werther said, adding that loss of public access channels – including the one that carries Mineola Village Board and School Board meetings – could be one result of the current FCC gambit.

Despite the fact that the notice of inquiry makes no reference to eliminating franchise fees or public access, which are normally determined in negotiations between cable providers and the respective municipalities, Werther is convinced everything could be on the table.

“What the government says and what they do in practicality are two different things,” Werther said. “You’ve got the cable companies spending millions of dollars in lobbying fees to get something going.”

Werther, who serves on the NCVOA executive committee, recommended that residents contact their federal representatives to express their concerns about the prospective change in the cable landscape.

“I think the pressure should come in waves. The residents themselves need to speak out,” he said.

FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield said the issues of franchise fees and public access channels are not the focus of the FCC’s inquiry. He said the notice of inquiry was “more about the cost of rights of way.”

In one section of the notice of inquiry, the FCC states, “Obtaining access to rights of way on fair and reasonable terms, and through a predictable process, is critical for all infrastructure providers.”

The deadline for comments on the FCC notice of inquiry is July 18, according to Wigfield, who said the FCC will have until Aug. 1 to reply to comments it receives.

“It’s kind of looking at the guidance on rights of way, just trying to get some more data to get the whole thing to work,” Wigfield said.

The notice of inquiry would be followed by a notice of rules-making with another period of comment to follow, Wigfield said, with no statutory time stricture on the process.

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