PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE | JULY 29, 2019

More Senators Issue Letters of Opposition on Proposed Rules of Cable Franchising 

Late last week Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) issued a letter opposing the FCC’s proposed rules on cable franchising because of the costs that will shift to local governments that rely on Institutional Networks. 

And just minutes ago, the ENTIRE NYC delegation wrote the FCC in opposition to the rules for their effects on PEG in their communities.

That makes 17 US Senators and 41 Representatives opposed to the rules that are set to be voted on Thursday. We expect that one or two more letters will come from Congress still this week.

ACM thanks every member of Congress who has voiced opposition or concern about the rules. 

The FCC meeting will be streamed live on Thursday starting at 10:30 am ET.  You can watch the stream at www.fcc.gov/live.

We will be coordinating a roundtable discussion about the rule and other efforts to overturn local authority and silence community voices at DCTV in Washington on Thursday from 3:00 - 5:00 pm ET.  We will be recording the discussion for your use and will update you as soon as the URL is available for a livestream.

August Updates

The August 1st Public Policy Call has been moved to August 8th at 4:00 pm ET to accommodate analysis of the final order. If you want to join us on the call or if you want a sample press release about the order, let me know at mwassenaar@allcommunitymedia.org.

I’ll be working reduced hours throughout August to get some vacation time in before Congress reconvenes in September.  I hope you get a chance to enjoy the rest of the summer!

Mike Wassenaar
President & CEO
The Alliance for Community Media