EUT Hearing Testimony Portal now OPEN for LD 1967

Greetings friends and supporters,

Please read carefully.

As you may know from our last message, the EUT web portal is now open for Public Hearing registration at
https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/

and if you don’t plan to present testimony in person, we encourage you and your municipal officials to submit EUT Public Hearing testimony on line prior to Wednesday, October 25 in support of LD1967.

Also, If you have a current working relationship with your legislators, we encourage you to ask them to also provide supporting testimony prior to the EUT Hearing.

We have once again attached the bill below, the Sponsor Amendment and some facts about the bill that were compiled by myself with assistance from other MCMA Board members.

FYI, Charter and Comcast have recently introduced a new streaming box called Xumo as they move away from traditional cable tv platforms.

This forward looking bill will protect municipal rights as other Video Service Providers and ISP’s that have facilities along the public right of way enter the “video to the home” market with similar channel selection applications.

For you, passage of LD1967 means that any new Video Service Provider has to sign a franchise agreement with  your municipality that provides the same protections and benefits to the town (and your station) that your current franchise provides. The summary at the end of the bill and the Facts About LD1967  document attached, describe other benefits to you and your operation.

Don’t let this opportunity pass. If this bill is not successful, there will be no future opportunity to receive these terms and traditional cable service will eventually evolve into streaming applications with facilities in the public right of way but with no obligations to the municipality.