State Senate and Assembly bills would give cable companies statewide franchise agreements.
By: Leon Tovey
Two bills working their way through the state Legislature could offer more and better options for cable customers in Monroe and Jamesburg, local officials said this week.
The two bills, S192 and A804, are virtually identical; each would amend the state’s 1972 Cable Television Act to allow cable providers to construct or operate a system anywhere in the state. Currently, cable providers must obtain cable-franchise agreements with each individual municipality where they want to operate.
Jamesburg Borough Councilman Chris Maloney and Monroe Township Councilman Gerald Tamburro said that while the two bills referred to by some as "the Verizon bills" would all but guarantee Verizon Communications a statewide franchise, they would give area residents a second option.
Currently, Jamesburg has a 15-year franchise agreement with Comcast Cable of Central Jersey that expires in 2010. Monroe is renegotiating its contract with Comcast, which expired last year. While franchise agreements are nonexclusive, cable companies typically won’t allow other companies to use their lines, so a company with a franchise agreement has an infrastructure advantage that nonfranchised companies generally don’t.
The two bills would give Verizon an incentive to run its lines into Monroe and Jamesburg, Mr. Maloney and Mr. Tamburro said. The Senate bill, Mr. Maloney said, would even require Verizon or anyone else who wanted a statewide franchise to offer services in Jamesburg in the near future, because it mandates service in the 60 most densely populated municipalities within three years of issuance of a statewide franchise.
The Jamesburg Borough Council, at Mr. Maloney’s behest, on Wednesday voted unanimously in favor of a resolution supporting S192, which is sponsored by Sens. Joseph Doria, a Democrat from Jersey City, and Anthony Bucco, a Republican from Denville. The bill was introduced Jan. 10 and referred to the Senate Economic Growth Committee.
"One-ninety-two, the way it’s written, pretty much precludes anybody but Verizon from applying for a statewide franchise, because no one but Verizon is ready to cover 100 percent of the state," Mr. Maloney said Wednesday. "But we’ve been talking to Verizon about coming into town for years and they really don’t have an incentive to do so right now.
"S192 should accelerate their deployment," he said.
Mr. Tamburro said the two bills offer similar benefits to Monroe. On Thursday, he and Township Business Administrator attended a committee hearing on A804, which is sponsored by Assemblymen Wilfredo Caraballo, a Democrat from Newark, and Joseph Vas, a Democrat from Perth Amboy. He said he likes the bill and its Senate companion because in addition to creating more competition in the area, it offers financial benefits to the township.
"It’s positive in that it gives us more in franchise fees," Mr. Tamburro said, noting that both bills would require cable providers to give municipalities 3 percent of gross revenues. Currently, Comcast gives 2 percent to both Monroe and Jamesburg.
The bills would also require cable providers to set aside two channels for public access and offer rate reductions to those receiving benefits from the state’s Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled program factors that Mr. Maloney said played more of a role in his decision to support the bills than the percentage hike in the franchise fees.
The borough does not have a public-access cable channel under its current agreement with Comcast and Mr. Maloney noted that if competition between Comcast and Verizon were to push prices down, the percentage hike wouldn’t help that much, because the borough would receive a higher percentage of smaller revenues.

