I don't know about you but I am sick of hearing how these racketeers rip us all off and seem to get away with it. The response becomes "what are you going to do?...we have no power.." You know that is BS, legislators and ALL government leadership are supposed to be working for US, the people. How is it that so called leaders seem to forget that ?

A Summary on the Comcast/FCC Net Neutrality Hearing
Posted on February 27, 2008 - 12:10pm.

Comcast Threatens the Open Internet – FCC Hears Complaints
Last summer, users of Comcast internet services reported cut-offs and significant decreases in their download speeds when they were sharing large content such as video, audio and data files using a peer-to-peer sharing application known as Bit Torrent (www.bittorrent.com).
Here is a link to the scoop
Viva save access

Thank goodness people like Bunnie are around to bring to our attention and to realize the bulls**t and betrayal that is going on, as companies like Charter, At& T, Comcast and others, continue to blow smoke in the face of state legislators, in Tennessee, who end up pandering to them with insider deals. Deals that make rationally thinking people feeling perplexed and abandoned by their elected leaders.

Link to Bunnie's blog here where our baby left us doin' the Tennessee Waltz.

If they are not supporting, with vigorous fight, FOR public access, participatory media that empowers you, what are they supporting? Hint: NOT YOU.

Mauro

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else" -
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

Consider supporting WCCA TV or volunteering. WCCA is your free speech television station / multi-media center.

Interesting Reading:
Stanford law professor Larry Lessig may have cast off plans for a congressional bid of his own, but he still wants to turn the political process as we know it upside down.

Larry Lessig: Time to reject corporate influence on Washington

change-congress

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, PEOPLE OF WORCESTER.

Last night, March 19th, WCCA met with members of the city council's Public Service and Transportation Committee to discuss WCCA's operational and capital needs for the next five years.

Councilors Joe Petty, Gary Rosen and William Eddy were very receptive and expressed their support for WCCA. Gary Rosen passionately expressed that he hopes to be joined by all his colleagues on the council in a call for assurances to ensure WCCA will continue the valuable level of service and to meet future community media needs.

Congratulations to YOU, Worcester. Thanks to the people and organizations of Worcester for the tremendous outpouring of support and encouragement you have given to WCCA TV over the past years. You have have helped us with your letters, editorials, post cards, petitions, attendance at cable meetings, and your many phone calls to city leaders. Because of your efforts, the city was able to negotiate a decent contract with Charter. The city will soon be receiving the funding and capital needed to continue WCCA TV's public access mission.

Now WCCA's funding and its future lies in the hands of City Manager Michael O'Brien. It is up to him to allocate funding pursuant to YOUR needs as ascertained by the city. YOU have spoken at those public hearings and through YOUR letters, before the PS&T and Cable Advisory committees. Both Committees echoed your request for increased funding, equipment capital and additional channel for WCCA TV “The People's Channel”, YOUR VISION TELEVISION. The city has been sensitive to all of our voices and, so far, to the needs of public access.

Your continued support is more vital now than ever. Please continue those calls and letters to our councilors and the City Manager.

Stay alert for upcoming public hearings regarding the future of WCCA. Sign up for our WCCA mailing list. Together, we may be able to convince the Manager to see to it that WCCA sustains at least the current level of service and community productions. We must press on together. That is what makes this truly "the people's channel".

Sincerely on behalf of the Volunteers, Community Producers, Interns, KidsNet/Youth Channel Students, Community Board, and Staff, Thank you.
Mauro DePasquale

Bunnie Riedel of Riedel Communications, provides some perspective about AT&T. Beware companies such as AT&T promise jobs, polliticians and unions foam at the mouth without realizing they may be cutting their own throats by allowing important public access mission and channels to be lost in the exchange. Read for yourself

Every time I view channel 13 or visit this website I am amazed. My love and respect for the people of this is heightened with each viewing or read.

Jeff's (Wormtown Taxi)blog expressing his insight regarding the city's treatment of the cable franchise, reminds me of why this whole situation matters to everyone. There would be something deeply wrong with our city government, it's leadership, it's system of operation if Jeff is right. It would be wrong to toss aside the over 22 years of WCCA's accomplishment, and valuable service. It is wrong to think that advocating for WCCA is just about jobs. It would be wrong to impose further bureaucracy to drain funds mandated by law, that are not tax dollars, away from public access. To do something wrong against WCCA is to do something wrong to the people of Worcester.
Who are these PEOPLE on this channel?

Well, if you take a quick look at WCCA TV channel 13 or on WCCA TV's website, you will see this is a TV station about YOU about Worcester, from the ground up.

YOU ARE WCCA:
You're: the abolitionist(Love146), the youth media student (Young Views Real News, Teen Central), the music enthusiast(Video Jam, Youth Session), Indymedia, a blogger (the Taxi guy), the Cultural Coalition(WCC) , a church, a library, a historic Institution, a college, a museum, an independent journalist (Ramona Interviews), an activist collective, a graduate student, a neighborhood center, a medical society, a monk (Love Truth and Miracles), a politician (Coffee with Konnie), a concerned citizen (Flipside), a technology buff, a charitable organization, an immigrant, a homeless person, a veteran, a retiree, a mom, a friend, a tax payer, a cable subscriber, an author, a cook, an artist, and everyone else. YOU ARE ALL WCCA TV.

Concerns about the future of WCCA are concerns about YOUR voice

It is such an honor to see YOU on WCCA TV.

We appreciate your support and encouragement.

Mauro De Pasquale, Executive Director, WCCA TV,
“The People's Channel”

WCCA has been very vocal about the damages of such legislation. It is amazing how deaf to reason the political world can be. Go to the sunlight foundation and check out who is being paid off by cable and phone lobbyist. Then it may become apparent why legislation and other government actions diminish all that has been accomplished in PUBLIC ACCESS in past years through local cable franchises.
Feel free to share your findings here at WCCA's website.
READ MORE:

http://www.natoa.org/2008/03/natoa-survey-impact-of-state-v.html

NATOA Survey: Impact of State Video Services Legislation
March 5, 2008 11:10 AM
Impact of State Video Services Legislation
Early Results Do Not Evidence Sufficient Competitive Benefits

Alexandria , VA – The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) today released results of a preliminary survey it conducted among its members to obtain a snapshot of the impact state video services legislation has had to date on communities and subscribers. While state video franchising is still a relatively new concept, the survey posed questions regarding its effects on competition, rates and services, PEG (Public, Educational and Governmental) access, and consumer complaints. Responses came from 14 of the states which have adopted state video legislation. A total of 139 Local Franchising Authorities (LFAs), representing 10 million cable subscribers (15% of cable subscribers nationwide), participated in the survey.

The results of the survey indicate that incumbent cable providers are taking advantage of the change in law, with one third of respondents indicating that the incumbent had abandoned its local franchise for one issued by the state. New entrants are seeking only state franchises. In franchise areas affected by state legislation, 27% of participants report one new entrant, and 6% report more than one new entrant in operation. Thirty-five percent (35%) of LFAs report the new entrant has not built anything; 48% report the new entrant has built out to part of the community; while only 18% report that the new entrant is in the process of or has built out to the entire community.

As a result of these changes, NATOA was disappointed to learn that under state legislation thus far:

* Rates have not decreased according to 98% of those surveyed.

* Incumbent basic rates have increased $1.12 for analog and $1.51 for digital

* Most new entrants do not market a Basic Service Tier nor report rates, which makes consumer comparison shopping difficult at best.

* Consumer complaints remain high with 74% of respondents reporting the same level of complaints, except as they relate to the availability of choice of provider

* The majority of LFAs reported that on incumbent systems, the number of PEG (Public, Educational and Governmental) access channels has remained constant (97%) and that the technical quality has remained the consistent (89%). PEG channel positions on new entrant systems were reported as different from the incumbents by 39% with worse or poor technical quality reported by 36% on new entrant systems. PEG funding was the same for 44% of the LFAs, whereas funding increased for 12% and actually decreased for 22% of respondents.

* Overall, 82% of LFAs do not believe that state video legislation is having a positive impact on their community; 90% believe that PEG programming is not being treated in an equitable manner by new entrants; and 97% believe that customer service has not improved under state supervision.

“We were anxious to get this first snap shot and to set the bar against which future data can be collected and judged,” said NATOA Executive Director Libby Beaty. “Clearly, this legislation is very new in many places, and only time will tell whether, once implementation is complete, it will prove to have benefited consumers more than the corporations that sought the legislative changes. We are hopeful that it is the consumer who will win, but clearly it’s too soon to see those benefits yet. State legislation just out of the gate is not resulting in price reduction, the primary reason used to justify state over local regulation.”

Read the Executive Summary of the Survey Here.
Contact: Libby Beaty, Executive Director, 703-519-8035

[Late update: Here's the contract (PDF).]

The city has announced it is about to sign a new agreement with Charter Communications.

I'm grateful that there has been some consideration to support the Public (WCCA TV 13), Education, and Government channels. Without having seen the actual agreement, there's not much I can comment about at this point. (The negotiation process has been almost entirely opaque to the public, and to those of us at this station.)

After reading this morning's T&G article by Nick Kotsopoulos, it's not clear if the city's PEG channels will be able to expand, or even maintain their current services.

At this moment we can only have faith the city will do or has done the best it can do to meet the expressed needs of the community as presented during the ascertainment process. It may be too early to tell but I hope not too late.

I welcome your comments and questions here on this web site.

Mauro DePasquale, Executive Director, WCCA TV 13, "The People's Channel"

Thanks to Rob McCausland for sharing the following:

free press: media is the issue

February 21, 2008

For Immediate Release

Craig Aaron , Free Press, (202) 265-1490, x25

CAMBRIDGE , Mass. -- On Monday, Comcast will be scrutinized by the Federal Communications Commission at a public hearing about the policies that will shape the future of the Internet. The Cambridge event will feature testimony from legal scholars, technology experts, entrepreneurs and industry representatives as part of the FCC's ongoing investigation into the blocking of legal content by the cable giant and other Internet service providers.

WHAT: A Public Hearing on the Future of the Internet
DATE: Monday, Feb 25, 2008
TIME: 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Harvard Law School , Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall
1515 Massachusetts Avenue , Cambridge , Mass.

The SavetheInternet.com Coalition will be recording public testimony outside the hearing throughout the day.

In January, the FCC launched an official inquiry in response to a complaint filed by Free Press and members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition -- as well as thousands of letters from concerned citizens. The Associated Press first exposed Comcast last fall for actively interfering with peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. The company argues the FCC has no authority to prevent it from blocking Internet traffic on its networks.

Comcast and other big phone and cable companies have been lobbying to kill Net Neutrality -- the longstanding principle that prevents them from discriminating against Web sites or services based on their source, ownership or destination. Last week, Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) introduced the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act" (HR 5353) -- landmark legislation that firmly establishes baseline consumer protections in communications law to ensure the Internet is open and free from discrimination.

"The value of the Internet comes from the millions of people and businesses who use it," said Marvin Ammori , general counsel of Free Press and lead author of the complaint that spurred the FCC's investigation. "We can't let the narrow interests of Comcast or any other network providers short-circuit the Internet's limitless economic and social possibilities. With stakes so high, the FCC must act quickly to shut down anti-competitive and discriminatory actions that put the open Internet in jeopardy."

The hearing will open with statements from all five FCC Commissioners, followed by a policy panel, where Ammori and renowned legal scholars Tim Wu of Columbia Law School and Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School will square off against representatives from Comcast and Verizon.

"What we're going to see on Monday is a trial of the Internet," said Wu, who coined the term "Net Neutrality." "Comcast is in the docket, accused of crimes against the public interest, and we'll see how well they are able to defend themselves."

The second panel will delve into the technological aspects of Internet traffic. It will feature, among others, several experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Scott Smyers of Sony Electronics; and Eric Klinker, chief technology officer of BitTorrent -- developer of the innovative file-sharing service targeted by Comcast.

Vuze Inc. -- which filed its own complaint against Comcast with the FCC -- will demonstrate its technology for sharing high-definition video prior to the first panel. Outside the hearing, there will be a "technology fair" where online innovators will show off their products and services.

"Now is the time to establish rules and regulations that will enable the evolution of the Internet," said Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Vuze. "A few powerful companies control the bandwidth through which consumers access Internet content, and through which innovative companies like ours deliver services. We support building an open Internet that fosters innovation for all."

In addition to testimony from experts in the field, the FCC has invited the public to share opinions for the official record. The SavetheInternet.com Coalition will be recording public testimony outside the hearing throughout the day. And consumers across the country unable to attend the hearing are invited to record and upload their testimonial videos to www.vuze.com .

Both the testimony recorded outside the hearing and the videos uploaded to the "FCC Channel" on Vuze will be submitted as a part of the official public record in this hearing.

Experts are available for interviews prior to the hearing. To schedule an interview, contact Craig Aaron of Free Press at (202) 265-1490, x25 or caaron@freepress.net.

View the FCC's official announcement and agenda here: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280373A1.pdf

###

The SavetheInternet.com Coalition is a grassroots, nonpartisan alliance of hundreds of groups, thousands of bloggers, and more than 1.6 million concerned Americans who have joined together to protect Internet freedom and Network Neutrality. No corporation or political party funds the coalition. Statements by the SavetheInternet.com Coalition are not necessarily endorsed by every participating organization. Learn more at www.SavetheInternet.com