Important Provisions Affecting Township Government
Senate Bill 1247

Following is a list of important provisions in Senate Bill 1247 (PN 1845) that would affect township government:

Local franchise process – Senate Bill 1247 would replace the existing municipal franchising process with a statewide franchise overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Customer service standards – Senate Bill 1247 would eliminate the authority of municipalities to establish and enforce customer service standards. The bill also would eliminate the requirement that cable operators follow customer service standards under federal law as soon as competition occurs in a community.

Build-out – Senate Bill 1247 would prohibit municipalities from requiring that cable operators “build out” the municipality.

Local control of rights-of-way – Senate Bill 1247 would eliminate the requirement that cable operators negotiate with municipalities for authorization to lay lines in the municipally-owned rights-of-ways in return for specific performance promises currently allowed under federal law, such as the provision of PEG channels, franchise fees, and build-out. Instead, the bill would give cable providers the same rights to occupy local rights-of-way as public utilities, but without any additional regulation. Municipalities could continue to require cable operators to comply with uniformly applicable rights-of-way ordinances, such as highway occupancy regulations.

Franchise fees – Senate Bill 1247 would allow townships to continue to receive franchise fees of up to 5 percent. However, this fee would not include gross revenue from telecommunications and information services, Internet and directory advertising, and sales from home shopping programs.

PEG Channels – Senate Bill 1247 would continue to allow municipalities to receive PEG channels. However, the bill would not require the cable providers to provide financial and technical support for these channels and would require the PEG channels to be used for at least eight hours a day and not repeat content, such as video bulletin boards, or risk elimination of the PEG channel.

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