Becca just posted a terrific summary of yesterday’s DTE hearing in downtown Boston on the ACMEBoston blog.

While Verizon representatives spoke first in a challenge to Massachusetts towns, who they claim have a ‘bureaucratic resistance to change,’ town and city representatives, board of selectpersons members, cable advisory committee volunteers and PEG channel producers and executives from across the state followed with compelling stories to counter Verizon’s proposal.

The franchising negotiation process ‘is not like buying a copier for town hall,’ one speaker remarked. Towns need the ability to hold cable providers accountable to their individual needs, and 90 days is insufficient time to complete all of the work necessary in recognizing what is fair to request of a massive corporation who will be using public rights of way for their own profit. - Can You Hear Us Now, Verizon?

Read the rest of Becca’s post here.

Thank goodness for citizen media, or we’d probably never hear anything about local stories like these.

—-

(Updated August 20, 2006)

I stand corrected. Here are three reports (below) I found on the web about last Wednesday’s hearing. There may be others:

“Regulatory board hears arguments on cable licensing” - SouthCoastToday.com

“Cable OKs not on demand: Once again, Bay State hacking up free enterprise” - BostonHerald.com

“Verizon Cable Plan Decried” - Cape Cod Times

Trackback URI | Comments RSS