To cross off your to-do list: attending tonight’s multi-town vote on taking over a cable TV system. The vote, originally set for Monday night and then continued to tonight, has now been postponed indefinitely, and may hinge on legislation currently before the state house.
Representatives of Davidson, Cornelius, Mooresville and Troutman had planned to decide before a court-ordered deadline of Friday on whether to form a consortium and buy the bankrupt former Adelphia cable system. The Charlotte Observer reported in today’s paper that the bankruptcy court judge in New York with jurisdiction over the case has issued a delay.
Davidson town manager Leamon Brice, who has written about the advantages of local cable ownership for this website, was not available for comment Thursday. Mooresville assistant town manager Erskine Smith told DavidsonNews.net that no new deadline has been set. However, Mr. Smith said the four towns will now likely wait to see how a bill in the state legislature is resolved before voting on the cable system purchase. That means a vote may not happen until the fall.
“We’d love to get it done as early as we could, but this legislation has got us stymied,” Mr. Smith said.
The bill, known as the Local Government Fair Competition Act, is sponsored by Rep. Drew Saunders (D-Mecklenburg) and House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman (D-Davidson County) among others. It sets up conditions and restrictions for public ownership of communication systems. Supporters say it would protect utilities from unfair competition. Critics think it would make public ownership of cable TV, broadband Internet and similar services unfeasible.
At a committee hearing on the bill May 30, Mooresville Mayor Bill Thunburg called it “a pig with lipstick on.”
As the four towns prepare for a vote, Time Warner will continue to serve as the caretaker of the cable system. According to the Observer story, the governments involved are working to complete a purchase agreement with Time Warner.
For related stories on this issue, check out “Cities fight bill to limit broadband” in the Raleigh-based Independent Weekly and “Anti-Muni Broadband Legislation is Back, Now in N.C.” in wi-fiplanet.com.
NOW is the time for the town to drop the ill advised proposed cable system purchase. Delaying the decision any further will only continue to delay Time Warner’s planned upgrades to the system. Continuing to pursue the purchase of the system only delays the investment in our future by private enterprise.
It’s as if you go to purchase gasoline at a service station, and on this particular day the service station does not have the octane rating you wish to purchase. You would like to purchase a higher octane that is available for sale that day. So what is your solution? Do you purchase the entire service station? The prudent solution would be to work with the vendor to ensure they provide the desired octane in the future. Our town wants to buy the entire service station. (Or maybe the entire petroleum industry!)
Last night the town of Troutman voted to get out of the Consortium. A town Alderman said that the people of Troutman told him they didn’t want to be in the cable/internet business so he voted against it.
Maybe the voters of Mooresville and Davidson will have the same effect with their elected officials.
In the mean time, the former Adelphia customers in Statesville will soon be done with their upgrade and will be enjoying a modern system.
And in the mean time we’ll still be paying the lawyers…..