Yesterday the Michigan Senate passed a slightly modified version of HB 6456, a bill sought by telecommunications giant AT&T who is seeking to enter the Michigan market to provide video cable services in direct competition with Comcast and other cable corporations. As part of their strategy, AT&T lobbied heavily for HB 6456 in order to bypass having to negotiate with local communities in exchange for using their rights of way, as was the case under previous law in Michigan. Instead, AT&T's legislation--supported by an overwhelming number of Democrats and Republicans in the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate--eliminates requirements for local franchise agreements. Existing franchises can be "abrogated" or cut at any time after January 1, 2007 by cable companies, forcing municipalities--such as Grand Rapids--to lose some support for public, educational, and governmental access programming on cable. Cable access centers, such as the Grand Rapids Community Media Center which runs two public access television stations, may also incur substantial costs in replacing the hardware necessary to transmit content from the access station to the cable company as cable companies will now have the opportunity to "freeze" their current payments for use of rights-of-way and back out of current "in-kind" services provided to access centers such as signal delivery. The loss of "in-kind" services could cost local municipalities an estimated $47 to $57 million revenue deduction. These items were all in the original bill; the only amendment that passed was one raising support for access from 1% to 2%, although the 2% can only be gotten if a cable corporation abrogates their existing contract. The bill--like the Telecommunications Act of 1996, efforts to eliminate net neutrality, and efforts to limit rules governing media ownership--is another means by which massive media corporations are seeking to limit the public's access to free and independent media while promoting increased media consolidation and homogenization.

Granholm issued a statement supporting the bill while pledging to address the net neutrality issue raised by Google, Free Press, and other entities "as stand-alone legislation" next year. Google and Free Press raised the issue of net neutrality--or the idea that companies providing the digital lines cannot discriminate against or prioritize certain content based on ownership or source--while arguing that any modern telecommunications bill must contain provisions supporting net neutrality. While Free Press along with MoveOn organized for a net neutrality clause in the bill, amendments supporting net neutrality were ultimately withdrawn by sponsoring politicians. Granholm fully absorbed the arguments of AT&T's lobbyistsa letter to Google, Governor Granholm argued that it makes more sense to pursue net neutrality as a separate issue next year "in the interest of taking incremental steps towards improving competition and services for Michigan consumers."

Granholm's support of HB 6456 reflects what has been bi-partisan support for media deregulation over the past ten years to the benefit of large media corporations. In the past election cycle, the telecommunications industry gave $62 million to Republicans and $133 to Democrats as it gears up to win another victory as it lobbies for new rules governing media ownership in 2007. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which led to the consolidation of radio ownership in this country (Clear Channel owned a few dozen stations before the loosening of ownership rules and now owns over 1,200), was passed under the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton and received overwhelming support from Democrats. However, rather than admitting defeat, media activists and independent media outlets around the country have coalesced in the Stop Big Media Coalition to fight the media ownership rules and the Save the Internet Coalition to continue fighting for net neutrality. At the same time, organizations such as the Alliance for Community Media are organizing against further attacks on public, education, and government access by the telecommunications companies.