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<br />City Council Study Session - 01/23/06 <br />Minutes - Page 12 <br /> <br />Communications Commission (FCC). <br /> <br />Mr. Miller advised that, while many changes were being <br />observed, the most significant for the City of Roseville and <br />other local governments, was the definition of 'cable <br />television,' with the inclusion of traditional telephone service <br />providers becoming cable television service providers. Mr. <br />Miller noted that, there was significant lobbying by these <br />new market entries to preserve their business classification as <br />a telephone company, thereby keeping them exempt from <br />most local franchising requirements, and implications to <br />traditional cable companies paying franchise fees and <br />competitive disadvantages. <br /> <br />Mr. Miller advised that several potential impacts were <br />possible. 1) Federal and state legislation requiring all cable <br />television providers to be subject to local franchising <br />requirements (i.e., Comcast and other potential providers <br />such as Qwest would pay franchise fees to local <br />governments), with the City capturing higher revenue to <br />support communication functions. 2) Or, franchise authority <br />could disappear altogether, as a means to keep the playing <br />field level, with the City potentially losing all franchising <br />revenues, currently amounting to $215,000 annually. Mr. <br />Miller advised that, under this scenario, this would not only <br />impact the City's communication function, but possibly the <br />City's ability to require local cable providers to provide <br />public, educational and government access to subscribers, as <br />well as future access to the Institutional network (I-Net). <br /> <br />Mr. Miller advised that there were a number of local <br />government professional associations actively representing <br />the interest of cities in this matter on a state-wide and <br />national level. <br /> <br />Councilmember Kough, as the City's representative to the <br />Cable Commission, advised that Executive Director Cor <br />Wilson would be coming before the City Council in the near <br />future for an update on this and other issues. <br /> <br />City Manager Beets noted that, on a practical matter, when <br />