Can’t get enough Jersey Shore?

Customers of Verizon FiOS can now watch selected full length episodes of that, and several other MTV series free of charge on a new online video website for authenticated cable/satellite customers.

MTVNow delivers at least a handful of episodes of their regular series — mostly reality shows.

“It’s clear that today’s consumers want to access their video programming anytime, any place, and Verizon continues to make that possible with online programming from partners like MTV Networks,” said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon.

FiOS TV customers will also get access to MTV Networks’ Comedy Central and Nickelodeon online soon.

Verizon customers will be authenticated by using their registered Verizon Online user names and passwords that verify they are existing pay-television subscribers.  If a customer only receives Verizon’s broadband service, they will not be able to access the service.

It’s part of the industry’s TV Everywhere project designed to stop customers from cord cutting their cable/satellite television packages.  By locking out access to popular shows, providers hope to avoid losing customers to a broadband environment where television shows are available free for watching.

But Verizon still faces licensing restrictions that limit the number of shows available to viewers at any one time.  Only about seven episodes of Jersey Shore, for example, were available.  Other series were limited to the last month of programming — a very familiar experience for Hulu visitors.  So are the commercials.

In addition to “Jersey Shore” and “Teen Mom 2,” Verizon and MTV Networks are providing FiOS TV customers with online access to MTV shows like ” Teen Cribs,” “True Life,” “The Real World: New Orleans” and “I Used To Be Fat.”  MTV will make additional shows available online soon including “The Hard Times of RJ Berger,” “Cribs,” “The Real World: Las Vegas” and “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.”

Verizon customers who subscribe to FiOS TV are able to watch the MTV shows on their personal computers or laptops – at home or away – using any broadband connection.  Using their Verizon Online user names and passwords, FiOS customers can access the online programming at either www.verizon.com/fiostvonline or www.mtv.com/tve.

Rep. Marilyn Avila’s (R-Time Warner Cable) anti-community broadband bill will be up for a vote this Wednesday in the Public Utilities Committee (Room 643, 12 noon) in the state legislature.

The bill was custom-written by Time Warner Cable to eliminate competition and keep your broadband prices high and speeds slow.  The proposed bill, H129 is bad news for every North Carolinian:

1. It will drive existing community networks out of business with onerous conditions;
2. It will damage the state’s credit rating and reputation when community networks fail under the legislative burdens that Time Warner Cable made certain it was exempt from;
3. It will harm local jobs.  Advanced fiber optic cables and equipment are also manufactured in North Carolina;
4. It destroys investment in the high tech infrastructure required to survive in the growing digital economy;
5. It guarantees that rural residents will never have access to the same kinds of broadband choices urban consumers and businesses have.

Nine high tech businesses and associations serving North Carolina have signed a letter telling the Legislature this bill will stifle high technology business in North Carolina.

But Marilyn Avila does not care.  She is only working for the interests of a single cable company that donates to her political campaigns.

Tell your legislator to vote NO on H129, and let them know you are appalled that this anti-consumer, anti-competition legislation keeps coming up year after year because of the lobbying influence of Time Warner Cable.  Make it completely clear you are watching their vote on this bill like a hawk, and it means everything to you at the next election.

Tell your representative to stand up for competition, stand up for advanced fiber optic networks, and to stand down on special interest legislation like H129, which only benefits the cable company that has overcharged you for years.

Your Call List

(click on each name for contact details)

Comcast is increasing the number of speed tiers available to broadband customers in markets where DOCSIS 3 broadband upgrades have been completed.  The new options are part of the company’s effort to rebrand its product line under the Xfinity name.

Broadband Reports notes the new speed choices come with different price points depending on regional competition and service bundling.  The Economy Plus tier is also only offered to customers calling to complain about high broadband pricing, and may not be available everywhere.  The company’s highest speed tier will be available in about half of their markets by the summer.

All plans are subject to the company’s 250GB usage cap.

Economy – 1.5 Mbps downstream, 384 kbps upstream
Economy Plus – 3 Mbps downstream, 768kbps upstream
Performance Starter – 6 Mbps downstream, 1 Mbps upstream
Performance – 15 Mbps downstream, 2 Mbps upstream
Blast – 25 Mbps downstream, 4 Mbps upstream
Extreme – 50 Mbps downstream, 10 Mbps upstream
Extreme 105 – 105 Mbps downstream, 20 Mbps upstream

Consumers across North Carolina can celebrate their successful effort to protest legislation that would effectively ban community-owned broadband networks in the state.

Thanks to an outpouring of phone calls and e-mails this afternoon, legislators have been forced to delay placing the controversial legislation on the agenda for tomorrow’s planned meeting.  Our sources tell us the reason for the delay was “all of the unwanted attention” the bill was getting from outraged citizenry.

But victory may be short-lived.  The proposed legislation has been re-inserted on the agenda for a meeting to be held next Wednesday.  That means one more week for you to keep the pressure on.

Use this time to tell your friends and family to contact legislators and let them know in no uncertain terms this bill needs to be killed for good right now.  One week, one month, or one year — there is no good time for this kind of corporate welfare to become law in a state that has a long way to go to achieve top-rated broadband service.  North Carolina’s economy depends on robust, world-class broadband.

The state’s phone and cable companies are spending their money on lobbyists to defeat competition, not bring the kind of service communities in Wilson and Salisbury now enjoy.

Rep. Marilyn Avila

North Carolina residents:  Rep. Avila’s H129, brought to you by Time Warner Cable, is being jammed through the state legislature tomorrow with no public input, no real review, and no thought for the ordinary voter in the state.

The House Public Utilities Committee will “discuss” the measure during Wednesday’s Public Utilities Committee meeting at 12 noon, in room 643 of the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh, quickly followed by a vote.  Bought and paid for by the state’s cable and phone companies, this bill will guarantee every resident in the state will face relentless rate increases, unchecked by competition.  Even worse, the state of the art broadband networks that finally deliver the kind of quality broadband the state deserves will be forced to shut down because of the ludicrous conditions the legislation requires for them to continue.

That means no more fiber broadband for your state — just the same old slow cable and DSL service that has left North Carolina far back in national broadband rankings.  Even worse, without community-owned networks, the chances of a competitor arriving to bring better service at lower prices are practically zero.

For rural North Carolina, H129 is nothing less than total devastation.  It will destroy any chance for rural communities to take care of the broadband needs of their citizens big cable and phone companies have ignored for years.  Make no mistake — H129 spells disaster for every North Carolina resident who isn’t an executive of a cable or phone company.

No citizens have asked for H129 to be introduced. It, like all of its predecessors, is a creature of Big Telecom — custom-written to do their bidding at your personal expense.  With a wined-and-dined Republican majority (some of whom were flown out to San Diego for a telecom-paid vacation seminar, complete with a BBQ bash), the only thing that stands in the way of this nightmare becoming law is you.

Every legislator knows there is a price to be paid for special interest legislation like this.  If it threatens to cost them enough votes to put their re-election at risk, they will bury the legislation or openly vote against it.  If they believe you are not paying attention, they’ll vote yes and gratefully accept the cable company’s next contribution check for a job well done.

You have less than 24 hours to make sure they know you are paying attention, and you will not support any legislator who votes against your best interests.

Tell them to vote NO on H129. Representative Steen is the Committee Chair and can be reached at [email protected] or 919-733-5881.

Here is a complete contact list for your convenience.  Click on the representative(s) to get their direct contact information.  Phone calls are most effective followed by e-mail.  Feel free to pursue both.

North Carolina's House of Representatives

The House Public Utilities Committee

North Carolina's Cable Monopoly Protection Act

QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ASKED ABOUT REP AVILA’S ANTI-BUSINESS, ANTI-LOCAL BROADBAND BILL

Will the industry be subject to the “level playing field” requirements of H129/S87?

NO. The industry would cease providing broadband services if they were subject to the requirements of this bill, due to the onerous burdens it places on broadband providers.The federal government and North Carolina deregulated broadband and cable services years ago; this bill re-regulates those services only if they are provided by local communities. The purpose of this industry-sponsored bill is to slant the competitive playing field in the industry’s direction and prevent local communities from providing their residents the broadband they need.

Why does the industry want local governments subject to the requirements of H129/S87?

So local broadband networks don’t develop Industry spokesmen say if local governments want to enter the broadband business they must play by the same rules as the private sector. Cable and broadband services were deregulated years ago and community broadband systems are subject to the same broadband rules as the private companies. This bill is designed to remove business and consumer choice and access to broadband services.

Is this bill actually good for the private sector?

NO. This bill will harm the private sector. The real private sector, local businesses, depend on access to reliable, advanced broadband infrastructure to sell goods and services.Yet large portions of our state remain unserved by the large telecoms or are served by unreliable, dated technology.  So local communities have stepped in to build the critical reliable infrastructure that will let their private sector flourish. This bill is only good for the large out-of-state telecom corporations whose monopolies benefit from being able to charge our local businesses higher rates due to lack of choice. North Carolina needs more broadband providers, not less.

Will this bill prevent public/private broadband partnerships, like Google Fiber?

YES. §160A-340.4 limits the funding, construction or improvement of any community broadband to general obligation bonds which impose severe limits on private sector investments in the system.  This bill will stop even public/private attempts to compensate for a lack of local broadband service.

Are the cable and telephone industry really interested in the welfare of taxpayers?

NO. The industry does not care about local taxpayers; they care about profit. If Time Warner Cable cared about taxpayer burdens,why have they raised cable rates on businesses and residential taxpayers every year? §160A-340.4 of the bill, actually shifts the financial risk of local systems directly to taxpayers by requiring that community systems are funded directly on the backs of taxpayers via general obligations bonds. §160A-340.1(b) also removes the requirement that the public vote before the sale of a community system occurs!

Big Telecom dollars buy custom-written corporate welfare bills that you will eventually pay for.

How do we ensure public accountability on public broadband projects without H129/H87?

The General Assembly has already established: (1) rules governing Public Enterprises (NCGS Chapter 160A, Article 16); (2) strict rules in the Budget and Fiscal Control Act governing all municipal budgets and expenditures, including hearing and disclosure requirements (NCGS Chapter 159, Article 3); and (3) strict oversight of municipal borrowing by the Local Government Commission (NCGS Chapter 159); and municipalities are subject to public document “Sunshine” laws, which Time Warner Cable has repeatedly used to obtain access to municipal financial and strategic planning decisions. In contrast, North Carolina’s telephone and cable companies are not required to publicly reveal any information about their systems.

Are portions of H129/S87 unconstitutional?

YES. The big telecoms want you to vote for a bill that is in contravention of NC’s state constitution. Their bill violates § 2(3) of Article v of North Carolina’s Constitution, which exempts all municipally-owned property from taxation by requiring municipalities to pay property taxes on broadband and other communication systems by renaming the property tax a “payment in lieu of taxes.

Will H129/S87harm public safety networks?

YES. Public Safety networks are typically regional communication networks of Counties, Cities, and Towns who pay fees and receive federal grants to cover operational costs. This bill would shut them down by limiting their service areas and imposing restrictive rate-setting and financial limitations;it will also make them ineligible for Homeland Security, ARRA and Farm grants.