There's an interesting article in today's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel regarding bills in the Wisconsin Legislature (Assembly Bill 207 and Senate Bill 107) that would change control of cable TV licenses from local municipalities to the state. Part of those bills include the elimination of fees collected on cable bills that are passed on to local cable access channels whose budgets and programming rely primarily (though not exclusively) on these fees--including the access channel in West Allis, which is profiled in the article.
Proponents of the bills say the legislation makes now a perfect time for these channels to find a new avenue to deliver their programming... like the internet. Also of note is that telecommunications companies like AT&T are big proponents of these bills, for not only would they be able to attract customers to their cable/video service... but as a side benefit, customers would use their internet service to find those government meetings that won't be on cable access if those channels' funding indeed dries up.
Proponents of the bills say the legislation makes now a perfect time for these channels to find a new avenue to deliver their programming... like the internet. Also of note is that telecommunications companies like AT&T are big proponents of these bills, for not only would they be able to attract customers to their cable/video service... but as a side benefit, customers would use their internet service to find those government meetings that won't be on cable access if those channels' funding indeed dries up.