IPI Applauds Tennessee's Video Franchise Reform Solution

IPI Applauds Tennessee's Video Franchise Reform Solution

DALLAS, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) applauds Governor Phil Bredesen's decision to sign the video franchise reform law recently passed by the Tennessee Legislature.

"Tennessee has taken a giant step today towards the provision of increased investment, new video opportunities, a stronger competitive environment and enhanced consumer choice," said IPI Senior Research Fellow Barry M. Aarons.

The bill will remove barriers to new entries in the video broadcast market by streamlining the requirements competitors face.

"Governor Bredesen and the Tennessee Legislature have taken a big step by removing the outdated system of local franchises that has been a major barrier to broadband rollout," Aarons said.

"Many at both the state and national level are frustrated at their perception of a slow pace of broadband rollout," said Bartlett Cleland, Director of the IPI Center for Technology Freedom. "But, in fact, broadband services are rolling out rapidly in parts of the country where regulatory barriers, such as arcane local franchise regulations, have been removed."

Tennessee's move today illustrates confidence in market competition as the key to benefiting consumers. Companies do not invest in rolling out broadband without a reason to do so, and there is no doubt that the existing panoply of municipal franchise regulations has raised costs, delayed rollouts, and impeded competition.

Cleland added, "With the removal of the local franchise barrier to broadband competition, the people of Tennessee will benefit from the construction of broadband networks throughout the state, lower video prices driven by market forces, and new and enhanced services for Tennessee consumers. New jobs will be created as a result of the new economic opportunities that come along with broadband technology."

"This investment will also bring new tax revenue into state coffers," said Aarons. "This is the right kind of revenue increase: not raising the tax burden on existing entities, or subjecting them to unfair competition, but generating new revenue through economic growth."

By opening the door to video franchise reform, Tennessee has joined over a dozen states including Indiana and Texas which have enacted video franchise reform laws designed to open the door to lower prices and new products for consumers.

The Institute for Policy Innovation is an independent, non-profit public policy organization based in Dallas, Texas. Experts are available for interview by contacting Erin Humiston at (972) 874-5139, or erin@ipi.org.

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Source: Institute for Policy Innovation

CONTACT: Erin Humiston of Institute for Policy Innovation,
+1-972-874-5139, erin@ipi.org

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http://www.ipi.org/

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