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Bill would ease Qwest's path into TV

Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 31, 2007 at midnight

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Qwest Communications and other pay-TV providers could offer cable TV anywhere in the state under a bill introduced Tuesday.

Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, is sponsoring a bill that would let Qwest bypass the process of negotiating franchises in each municipality it wants to serve. Some seven other states have introduced similar measures after lobbying efforts by telephone companies AT&T and Verizon, which are aggressively pushing into video services.

Denver-based Qwest has been floating draft legislation in recent weeks in an attempt to better compete with its chief rival, Comcast. Balmer said he agreed to sponsor the bill only if it was rewritten to give municipalities a larger chunk of franchise fees.

The bill is still likely to face fierce opposition from local governments and Comcast, which has 800,000 subscribers in Colorado. Comcast has repeatedly argued that Qwest will "cherry -pick" the most affluent neighborhoods if it is not required, as Comcast was, to provide TV service throughout a community.

"We continue to support the existing system of local cable franchising that provides a strong role for municipal government and acts as no barrier to competition," said Comcast spokeswoman Cindy Parsons.

Balmer hasn't secured a Democratic co-sponsor in the Senate, but he'll renew efforts if the bill passes the House.

Chuck Ward, Qwest's state president, said the company expects the legislation "will have bipartisan support because of the strong pro-consumer nature of the bill and the fact that it would increase broadband investment for Colorado."

Qwest quietly tried but failed to muster the support for state franchise legislation last year. If such a bill were to pass, it would open the door for any pay-TV provider to offer service in the state.

The bill includes a build-out requirement that any cable-TV provider that controls more than 50 percent of the market within a geographic area must extend its system, but only if the neighborhood is very dense - with at least 250 homes within 4,000 feet of the provider's nearest remote terminal - and service isn't already available from another cable provider.

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